I’m sure you’ve run into people who are hyper-spiritual. These are well-meaning and usually serious Christians who have the tendency to be more pious than Paul or Peter. They’ll be late for work because of a good “quiet time” they were having. They’ll see Satan behind everything that interrupts daily devotions or prayers. They’ll feel terribly guilty if they forgot a memory verse they learned in the past. When my wife and I were talking about this a few weeks back, I showed her this section of Gene Veith’s God at Work. We both loved it. Here it is.
“A woman told me about getting involved in a Bible study that demanded strict commitment to the study of God’s Word. ‘You should make the Bible your number one priority,’ she was told. That meant getting up early and the very first thing in the morning doing Bible reading and having a quiet time with the Lord. She did this, but to her consternation every morning as she would start to read her Bible, the baby would wake up. She found herself resenting the interruption. Here she was, trying to spend time with God, and the baby would start fussing, demanding to be fed and distracting her attention away from spiritual things. After a while, though, she came to understand the doctrine of vocation. Taking care of her baby was what God, at that moment, was calling her to do. Being a mother and loving and serving her child was her vocation, her divine calling from the Lord. She could read the Bible later. She did not have to feel guilty that she was neglecting spiritual things; taking care of her baby is a spiritual thing! (p. 141).”
Well said. We don’t have to get hyper-spiritual and say that Satan was using the baby’s cries to distract the mother from the Bible. The baby’s cries were due to a hungry stomach (or wet diaper!) and not Satan trying to pry the woman from the Bible. Veith is right. The woman can read the Bible later. Furthermore, it would be a sin for a mother to neglect her hungry child. The doctrine of vocation is important for us as we navigate through this world as pilgrims.
Therefore, get this book: God at Work by Gene Edward Veith. (But feed your baby and change her diaper before you read it.)
shane lems
Dr. Veith’s work is straight out of Gustaf WIngren’s “Luther on Vocation.” It’s a really edifying piece of work in itself in exploring Luther’s thoughts on the subject.
Oh, how true! In the “busy-ness” of ministry, this can also be a problem. It goes along with the territory that, as ministers, we must spend much time in our studies. But, if we spend too much time in the study (which is something I tend to do if not careful), we neglect the very ministry God has called us to! We must be with the people – interacting with them, spending time with them, praying with them, crying and laughing with them. And, fellow shepherds, let’s not forget our most important vocation – OUR WIVES. they need our time, love, and compassion. In fact, my wife needs me to help her with something right now, so see ya, and God bless!
Good stuff!
I’m happy so many overly pious people are learning that Christ is present in their vocations and they can get their feet back on the ground.
[...] this recently (maybe it was Ben?): in any case, those two did come very beautifully to mind reading this post, which quoted the following: “A woman told me about getting involved in a Bible study that [...]