Religion is filled with repetition.  Everything from praying to preaching involves saying and doing some things over and over again.  In our worship services, we do the same things every week without fail.  Is this repetition good or bad?  The answer is that it is what we make it to be.

What are some of the good things that come about when we repeatedly do the same things spiritually?  First, we develop good habits.  When our children were growing up, they never asked if we were going to worship services whenever the local church had them because that was all they ever knew.  All their lives we attended all worship services and Bible classes.  We did it so habitually that it was just a way of life.  I am not boasting about this.  The majority of you reading this blog can say the same thing.  It is one of the benefits of spiritual repetition.  Good habits are developed and there is no better habit than serving God.

Spiritual repetition leads directly to spiritual growth.  If you read your Bible every day, you will grow in faith.  I know this because faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17).  The devil knows this too.  This is why he tries to snatch the Word away from us (Luke 8:11-12).  He knows he will not defeat us if we sustain a steady diet of God’s Word.  Paul knew this too and encouraged brethren to allow the Word to dwell in them richly (Colossians 3:16).

Peter was determined to make sure brethren would get a heavy dose of truth from him.

2 Peter 1:13–15 (ESV)
¹³ I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

When it comes to the Bible, repetition leads to recollection and that is always a good thing.

There are some cons to spiritual repetition, however, but they are all self-induced.  For example, it can lead us to take some spiritual things for granted.  Having access to the Word of God can lose its significance to us and be viewed as no big deal because we meet to study so often.

Our overall worship of God can be taken for granted.  To be able to assemble and worship God freely, without any kind of outside interference, is a wonderful blessing that we should always cherish.  But, being able to sing, pray, and study regularly, without having to worry about being arrested, or even worse, can become something for which we are not thankful because we have done it for so long and so often.

Another issue is that spiritual repetition can lead to just going through the motions when serving God.  We can get to the point where we are singing without thinking about the words of the song.  We can study and pray without our hearts being engaged specifically because we do it time and time again.  While worshiping God habitually can be a good thing, if it becomes nothing more than a habit, we are no longer worshiping Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and it becomes a waste of time.  Paul used the word logikos to describe acceptable service to God (Romans 12:1).  The word points to that which is rational, indicating the heart is engaged.  Vine described Paul’s use of the word as follows:

“Pertaining to the reasoning faculty, used in Rom. 12:1, of the service to be rendered by believers in presenting their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. The sacrifice is to be intelligent, in contrast to those offered by ritual and compulsion.”

These cons to spiritual repetition can only happen if we allow them to do so.  It is our responsibility individually to make sure we never take serving God for granted, turning sacred things into things common, and that we avoid going through the motions when we are worshiping God in any capacity.  If we can avoid these things, spiritual repetition will only help us to be strong in the Lord.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.