1. The Myth of the Morning Devotional
Somewhere along the way, the church canonized the "quiet time."
You know the drill: coffee mug in hand, sun peeking through the blinds, Bible open to Psalms, and your favorite worship instrumental playing softly in the background. Bonus points if you highlight a verse and Instagram it with a caption like, "His mercies are new every morning."
And then you go about your day.
Angry in traffic. Harsh with your spouse. Irritable with your kids. Spiritually flat by lunchtime. But hey—you did your quiet time.
Let me ask you something:
What good is a quiet time if it never leads to a crucified life?
What we’ve done is turn the means of grace into a mood. Quiet time has become Christian aromatherapy. It smells spiritual, feels peaceful, and accomplishes almost nothing because it's been disconnected from obedience, repentance, and community.
Jesus never said, "Blessed are those who read their Bible in the morning and feel encouraged." He said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and do it" (Luke 11:28).
And doing it doesn’t mean underlining it. It means submitting your entire life to it.
But let’s be honest: that’s not how most evangelicals treat their devotional life.
Instead, we skim a chapter, journal some vague thoughts, and act like we communed with the Almighty. Then we wonder why we’re still enslaved to the same sins, stuck in the same spiritual rut, and barely growing.
Could it be that the problem isn’t your routine, but your reduction of sanctification to a private ritual instead of a public reality?
Your 15-minute devotional won’t sanctify you if your heart is still proud, your tongue is still sharp, and your life is still yours.
2. Sanctification Is War, Not Wellness
Let’s be clear: sanctification is not a spa treatment. It is not soft background music while you sip espresso and wait for Jesus to whisper your daily mantra. It’s not a vibe.
It’s a violent, Spirit-wrought war against the sin in your soul.
And that war doesn’t happen because you read a Psalm and felt comforted. It happens when you read a Psalm and got convicted. It happens when you saw your sin, hated it, confessed it, and turned from it with bloody knees and trembling lips.
Romans 8:13 doesn’t say, "If you have your devotions, you’ll live." It says, "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
That’s violence. That’s warfare. That’s sanctification.
But today’s Christian has traded the sword for a scented candle.
We’ve traded mortification of the flesh for motivational quotes. We want Jesus to calm our minds, not confront our idols.
And that’s why your quiet time isn’t working.
Because instead of being pierced by the Word, you’re pacified by it.
Instead of being driven to repentance, you’re lulled into comfort.
Instead of dying daily, you’re journaling vaguely.
We forget that the same Word that comforts the broken also confronts the proud. The same Spirit who whispers peace also sets fire to your sin. And the same God who draws near also demands surrender.
So if your devotional life never leads to confession, community, and cruciform obedience, it's not sanctifying you. It’s just sedating you.
3. The Local Church Is the Engine of Sanctification
Here’s the dirty little secret about your quiet time: it was never meant to be the primary means of your spiritual growth.
The local church is.
God didn’t give you a Bible and a coffee mug. He gave you pastors, elders, sacraments, corporate worship, church discipline, and the gathered saints.
That’s where sanctification happens. That’s where iron sharpens iron. That’s where sins get exposed, rebuked, and killed. That’s where truth is preached and applied. That’s where we walk in the light with one another (1 John 1:7).
But you? You’re trying to fight sin solo. You’re trying to grow alone. And you’re wondering why you’re stuck.
The book of Acts doesn’t say, "And they devoted themselves to individual devotionals in their quiet time nook." It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42).
That was the early church’s version of sanctification. Not isolation. Integration.
The truth is, the more privatized your faith becomes, the more paralyzed your growth will be.
You need the preaching of the Word. You need accountability. You need discipline. You need people who will call you out and call you up.
You need the church.
Quiet time is good. Church time is better. Obedient time is best.
4. The Call to Repentance (and a Better Quiet Time)
Let’s land this plane in a crash of conviction and grace.
If your quiet time hasn’t led you to a deeper walk, real repentance, and actual holiness—then you don’t need to throw it out. You need to rewire it.
Here’s what a sanctifying quiet time actually looks like:
- Scripture that cuts you, not just comforts you.
- Prayer that breaks you, not just soothes you.
- Confession that empties you, not just validates you.
- Commitment that costs you, not just inspires you.
And here’s the secret ingredient: community.
Take what you read and bring it to the body. Let your devotions lead to discipleship. Let your Word-time fuel your obedience-time.
God is not after your morning ritual. He’s after your whole life.
So let your quiet time be loud with repentance. Let it roar with obedience. Let it drive you to the Word, the Church, and the Cross.
Because Christ didn’t die to make you feel better in the morning. He died to make you holy for eternity.
Now get up, go to church, and kill your sin.
That’ll sanctify you.
Thanks for reading.
