DEVOTION is neither private nor public prayer; but prayers, whether private or public, are particular parts or instances of devotion.
Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God.
✦ A Life Given
Law begins with a correction that changes everything. Devotion is not prayer. Prayer is a part of devotion — an instance, a moment, an expression. But devotion itself is larger than any prayer. Devotion is the whole life. The entire existence. Every hour, every act, every decision — given to God. Devoted to God. The word itself contains the answer: de-voted. Vowed. Pledged. Given over entirely.
The morning before dawn — that is prayer. The reading of Scripture — that is prayer. The journal entry — that is prayer. But devotion is everything that happens before, during, and after the prayer. The way the day is spent. The way the money is used. The way the time is filled. The way the talents are employed. All of it — given to God. That is devotion. 🙏
He, therefore, is the devout man, who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life parts of piety, by doing everything in the Name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to His glory.
✦ Common Life Made Piety
Law paints the portrait of the devout man — and the portrait is not of a monk in a monastery. It is of a person whose common life has become piety. Not the extraordinary moments. The common ones. The ordinary acts — eating, working, traveling, deciding, spending — all made holy. Not by adding prayers to them. By doing them in the Name of God.
Who lives no longer to his own will. The self-will — the flesh that Paul named in Romans 8, the self-life that Tozer said must be rent from the top down — no longer governs. The devout man has transferred the obligation. Not to the flesh. Not to the way and spirit of the world. To the sole will of God.
Who considers God in everything. Not in some things. Not in the sacred moments and not in the secular ones. In everything. The considering is constant. The awareness is unbroken. Every act — however common, however small — is performed under the gaze of God and for the glory of God. And that is what makes it holy. 🙏
For there is no other reason why our prayers should be according to the will of God, why they should have nothing in them but what is wise, and holy, and heavenly; there is no other reason for this, but that our lives may be of the same nature, full of the same wisdom, holiness, and heavenly tempers, that we may live unto God in the same spirit that we pray unto Him.
Prayer for me is my need to connect with God because I know I was created for Him. 🙏
✦ Live in the Same Spirit That We Pray
Law makes the argument that cannot be evaded: the life must match the prayer. If the prayer is according to the will of God — wise, holy, heavenly — then the life must be of the same nature. There cannot be one standard for the prayer closet and another for the marketplace. One spirit in the morning devotion and a different spirit in the afternoon's decisions. The prayer and the life must breathe the same air.
And Le names the source of her own prayer — not duty, not obligation, not religious habit: my need to connect with God because I know I was created for Him. Augustine's restless heart, expressed in the language of a pilgrim in Agen. The prayer is not performance. It is need. The soul was made for God — and the prayer is the reaching of the creature toward the Creator who made her. The connection is not optional. It is the purpose of the creation. 🙏
For any ways of life, any employment of our talents, whether of our parts, our time, or money, that is not strictly according to the will of God, are as great absurdities and failings, as prayers that are not according to the will of God.
It is as great an absurdity to suppose holy prayers, and Divine petitions, without a holiness of life suitable to them, as to suppose a holy and Divine life without prayers.
✦ The Two Absurdities
Law names two absurdities — and declares them equal. Holy prayers without a holy life — absurd. The soul that prays with devotion at dawn and lives without devotion by noon has contradicted herself. The prayer has no foundation. The words have no body. The spirit of the morning has been abandoned by the afternoon.
A holy life without prayers — equally absurd. The soul that lives with goodness but never prays has a body without breath. The life may look right — but the connection to the source is missing. The fruit is disconnected from the root.
Law allows no escape. The prayer and the life are one offering — and both must be according to the will of God. A life that cannot be offered to God is as much an offence as a prayer unworthy of God. An employment of time or money that ignores God's will is the same failure as a prayer that ignores God's will. There is no secular compartment where God's rules do not apply. 🙏
"Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God."
William Law · A Serious Call · The whole life — not just the prayerIt is as reasonable as for any person to pretend to strictness in devotion, to be careful of observing times and places of prayer, and yet letting the rest of his life, his time and labour, his talents and money, be disposed of without any regard to strict rules of piety and devotion.
✦ No Double Standard
Law closes the last escape route. The soul who is strict about prayer times but loose about how she spends her money has a double standard. The person who observes every devotional hour but wastes every other hour has divided what God made one. Strictness in prayer and carelessness in life are a contradiction that God does not accept.
The argument is complete: if prayer must be wholly for God, the life must be wholly for God. If the prayer is offered in the Name of Jesus, the common life must be lived in the Name of Jesus. If the morning belongs to God, the afternoon belongs to God. If the devotion is real, the whole life — every talent, every hour, every coin — is the devotion.
Le recognized in William Law's directness the same tone she heard in the Protestant churches of the United States — the practical insistence on Scripture, the demand that faith be lived and not merely professed. Law was an 18th-century Anglican, but his voice speaks the same language that taught Le to open her eyes to Scripture. The tone that formed her — now met again, three centuries later, in a new country.
Devotion Is the Whole Life
Devotion is not prayer. Prayer is a part of devotion. Devotion is the entire life — given, devoted, surrendered to God. Every common act made piety. Every hour an offering.
No Double Standard
Holy prayers without a holy life — absurd. A holy life without prayers — equally absurd. The prayer and the life must breathe the same spirit. No sacred compartment and secular compartment.
Created for Him
Prayer is the need to connect with God — because the soul was created for Him. The connection is not optional. It is the purpose of the creation. Augustine's restless heart, alive in Agen.
Live as We Pray
Live unto God in the same spirit that we pray unto Him. The life must match the prayer. The strictness of devotion must extend to every talent, every hour, every coin. The whole life — the offering.