Good morning church family,

I have no way of proving it, but I believe America is a much less sanitary place since the introduction of electric hand dryers into public restrooms. This conviction of mine isn’t based on my assessment of the effectiveness of hand dryers, mind you. I’m sure they work just as well if not better than paper towels. No, my argument is not that they don’t work but that no one uses them. And who can blame them? The cacophonous roar created by these “energy savers” is enough to make your ears bleed. I mean, with the amount of noise coming out of one those little wall-mounted boxes, you would think it was preparing for takeoff. When my girls were little, I can remember being in a rest stop bathroom with them when one of those dryers roared to life. Bryn and Ingrid’s fight-or-flight mechanism kicked in and all I saw was bobbing pony tails as they ran screaming from the bathroom.

In addition to the auditory assault, hand dryers also have a huge efficiency problem. On a couple of occasions when a trip to the bathroom was a furlough from some painful event I was attending and thus in no rush to leave the lavatory, I’ve conducted experiments to see how long it would take for a hand dryer to actually do what its name promises. What I found, in those instances, was that no matter the make or model of dryer, I ended up having to rub my hands through at least two whole cycles of turbine torture. Most people I’ve observed only put their hands under the dryer long enough to trip the sensor before immediately despairing of the process and beating a hasty retreat from the bathroom; shaking their hands spasmodically before finishing the job by wiping them on their shirt and pants. I find all this, of course, to be a sad and unnecessary display. Can’t those wonderful, tri-fold symbols of American ingenuity be stacked high once again in men’s and women’s rooms all across the fruited plain? Public restrooms are already unpleasant enough, without having to go both deaf and grey waiting for one’s hands to dry. And given the irksomeness of having to leave the bathroom with hands sopping wet, I do wonder how many people forego washing their hands altogether?

Now, perhaps you think I’m being too harsh by half in this ranting take-down of hand dryers. Maybe you’re wondering if I’m not just using this platform to vent and let off a little steam. And I’m sure some of you are thinking I should reserve this kind of passionate editorializing for something meaningful. And to all of this, I’d say – you’re absolutely right. But now that I’ve gotten it off my chest, I do see in it, a possible application to our Christian life.

If I were to identify a correlative to hand dryers in the Christian life, it just might be the daily devotional. There are a number of reasons why fewer and fewer Christians are reading the Bible for pleasure these days, but one of them is certainly the breathtaking proliferation of daily devotional books. These neat, tidy, and attractive little volumes usually offer a short and pithy encouragement for each day, based on a verse or fragment of Scripture. Because there’s often little depth to these offerings and because their message and content is often remarkably similar to all the other writings in the book, most folks give up on them within weeks or even days. We all have multiples of these devotionals sitting on the edges of our desks and end tables like so much parsley sitting on the edges of our plates. But worse than the quality of much of this devotional material is the subconscious effect the books have on many of us. For far too many, the lesson learned from the prominent place given to these little books is that the Bible is too difficult and cumbersome to read for pleasure and enrichment. “Instead of getting bogged down and frustrated in the hurly-burly backwaters of the Bible,” the thinking goes, “why not let an author provide a tasty little morsel harvested from his hard work and toil.”

I know that the publishers of these daily devotionals are largely driven by good and earnest motivations. And I know that the good intention of everyone involved in their production is for the Kingdom to be built up and encouraged and for more and more believers to engage with the Bible. But I’m afraid that the net result has been less and less Bible reading over the years and a frightful infantilization of the American Christian mind instead. If the only scriptural nourishment one receives is from the pages of daily devotionals – that will make for an emaciated soul, a weak heart, and an impotent mind. Daily devotional materials make a wonderful garnish but a woeful entrée. And yet, in most of what we’re reading for encouragement in our faith, it’s the biblical Word that sits as an olive on a toothpick at the top or bottom of the page or as a little mint sprig tucked parenthetically into the text.

Nothing beats just picking up the Word of God and enjoying an unhurried read through any of its pages and passages. For times of study and reflection such as these never return void but instead inspire, quicken, and enlighten our lives. It’s the only thing that consistently satisfies our soul’s appetite.

So, the next time you visit a public restroom and you leave with your hands wet and dripping; wishing you could have enjoyed using a paper towel instead, maybe you’ll remember this little word of mine. And that night or next morning, when you pause your day’s doings to consider your Creator; pick up the Bible first and leave that daily devotional for dessert.

We’re looking forward to coming into our Father’s house tomorrow – to study, sing, and celebrate the Kingdom both now and to come. We’ll find sanctuary in each other’s fellowship and in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Our souls will revel in the hope of righteousness. It will be a good day! May the Lord, mighty God, bless and continue to keep us!

• Pastor Tate