I’ve used YouVersion for a long time, but nothing for regular Bible reading plans, studying or one of the many daily devotional plans they have to offer.
Having recently finished up another paperback daily devotional and since I hadn’t landed a new one yet, I thought I would give some YouVersion devotionals a spin.
So far, so good.
I’ve really enjoyed the diversity of devotions that are offered. After having finished my first devotional, my YouVersion app asked if I wanted to share the news with my friends.
I froze.
I was quickly reminded of the little boy who won a badge in Sunday School for his humility, but then had it revoked when he decided to wear it.
Was it prideful to ‘tell my friends?‘
When I finish a traditional devotional, I don’t go around telling all my friends about it. Can you imagine walking up to your friends after church and saying, “Hey guys, I finished my devotional!”
I imagine crickets would follow.
But wouldn’t it be an encouragement to others to see that I was finishing devotionals?
In the beforementioned context, I can imagine walking up to friends at church and saying, “Hey guys, have you read that one devotional?”
I imagine great discussion would follow.
So, as of to date, I’ve yet to ‘share’ my completions and I have only ‘shared my progress’ on one other—all the others I have kept private. I am a little unsure what to think of it—maybe I am overthinking it.
Tell me, what do you do?
Do you share your completed YouVersion reading plans?
Why or why not?
Doug says
Eric – I tend to agree with you. Many of the YouVersion plans are relatively short (14-30 days) and it just seems like a “humble brag” to tell everyone when I’ve finished one. However, I do enjoy highlighting / noting particular verses and then sharing those as an encouragement or as what God may be challenging me with on a given day. But plan completion…. not so much.
Eric Dye says
‘Humble brag.’ Yeah, that’s a really good way to put it. 🙂
John Finkelde says
Share widely and often!
Why?
In my consulting I too often find pastors have weak devotional lives so I can’t begin to imagine how weak are the devotional lives of those in the pews.
So I think your sharing would encourage others to try a short devotional plan.
But do it humbly 😉