Messy & Noisy Dinner Devotions
I use to have this image of family devotions, this picture in my head of what it would look like for my family:
There we were, my wife, my three-year-old daughter, my two-year-old son, and me, all sitting around the dinner table. The table was set, the Bible, open, and our hearts ready to approach the Lord together as a family. Music softly played in the background. Everyone was formally dressed, and in a sweet mood with smiles on their faces. I would teach from the Bible, and we would graciously take turns talking while the others quietly chewed their food.
There would be singing, on key, and praying, with eyes closed, and spiritual discussion, at a reasonable volume.
I thought it would be this way.
And then, my wife and I had children. We started these family devotions at dinner time, and all of my dreams of quiet, picture-perfect family worship evaporated.
Our family worship is messy. Milk is spilt while I'm reading God's Word, my wife has to get up from the table multiple times to wait on our children, the kids aren't looking for a "quiet time" and usually share their thoughts about the devotion with great emotion, gestures, and noise. They dance and run around the room while we sing praise songs and my son punctuates every prayer with a loud shout of, "Amen!"
But we do approach God as a family. We do worship him together. We do adore him through Scripture, entreat him through prayer, and exalt him through praise. We just do it while spitting out food we don't like and crying for dessert.
Jonathan Williams is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries and the Senior Pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church of 44 nations located in Houston, TX.
