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This is my life. This is the tension in which I live. The desperate desire to live in what scholars refer to as the sacred.
The spaces and places and moments and actions that we believe are dedicated to God and pleasing to Him as holy.
On my ideal day, this is what sacred or holy looks like:
- Bible reading
- blog research
- blog writing
- Bible study prep
- leading Bible studies
- listening to podcasts or sermons
- listening to worship music
- prayer or meditation
- attending church with my people
Basically, a dream day!
And then, lurking in the corner as a constant pull and vying for my attention is the mundane. Or what scholars refer to as the secular.
The average secular day looks like this:
- feed kids multiple times in the day
- errands with kids
- chauffeuring kids to school, extracurriculars, and various activities
- make all the meals
- laundry, laundry, laundry!
- work calls and emails
Cheers to the secular.
I hope that sharing my own experience, and how I’m learning to manage this tension will be a blessing to you in your own journey.
I recently read The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer, and he says this:
These secular tasks we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves reflectively that there’s a better day coming when we will shake off this earthly shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.
– A. W. Tozer
Friends, I can’t begin to express how deeply this resonated.
It’s not specifically about apologizing to God for not spending more time in sacred activities.
But I’m sure on a subconscious level, that I believe I’m somehow more pleasing to God, that my time is better spent, that I best fulfill my purpose, or that I am more worthy of His love when I toil away at my sacred passions.
Perhaps you’re like me and you grow resentful of time spent away from the things that make you feel closer to God. When really, He never meant for there to be a difference! On the contrary, He has always intended to meet us everywhere!
As we navigate the tension between sacred and secular, we could not find a better model than Jesus for the best outlook.
By the end of Jesus’ life on earth — when all was said and done, and He ascended to the Father in Heaven, God accepted the offering of His life in its entirety.
Friends, please understand this with me, because it was truly a game-changer in how I view my own mundane, secular life.
God didn’t make a distinction between sacred or secular, between holy and mundane. In fact, in John 8:29, Jesus Himself said, I always do what pleases the Father.
If that was truly the case…
…then there’s no ranking of tasks, nor hierarchy of holiness!
All that Jesus did brought glory to God. And this was made possible because His whole life was dedicated to God’s glory. He didn’t engage in certain sacred activities with the subconscious thought that they were holier than others and therefore distinct in some way. The mundane, secular activities were therefore holy as well. All of it dedicated to God.
The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that whatever you do – even eating and drinking! Do all of it for the glory of God.
Nothing is off limits. It’s all for Him! Every mundane task, even those we don’t like. No, especially those we hate! – They can be sacred acts of worship to God when we do them for His glory.
Here’s another way to look at it:
In the Old Testament, the sacred place was the tabernacle, and later the temple, where God would meet with His people. The shekinah glory of God — the physical manifestation of God’s presence on earth, could only be seen and experienced in the sacred space: The Holy of Holies. The centre of the temple, where only the high priest could enter.
Then, John 1:14 says, The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us. The original language for dwelt refers to setting up a tabernacle.
Friends, this means that Jesus Himself became the Holy of Holies on earth. His incarnation was the sacred space to meet with God. So when we walk with Jesus, and His Spirit indwells us, our whole lives are that sacred space too!
We no longer need to qualify for the priesthood to enter a sacred temple to meet with God. Even a religious establishment is not seen as more holy than your own kitchen or car.
Let’s go a step further
If the birth of The Church took place in the upper room of a house where Jesus’ followers were huddled together and waiting for what only God knew, then why not your upper room?
God filled that room, filled that space, filled their lives with the very sacred and Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
It was a mundane, secular upper room. But it became holy ground when God showed up. And those ordinary people became sacred vessels of God’s Spirit. The holy mundane.
The Aggressive Faith
For us to realize this truth in our own lives, we have to be INTENTIONAL about how we view our mundane tasks. This calls for what Tozer refers to as aggressive faith:
We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction. Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory…. Believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.
Friends, there’s nothing special about a holy task. Rather it’s that it is done to glorify a Holy God. So even reading the same stupid dinosaur book to my daughter, or playing yet another round of Guess in 10 with my boys can be holy. Because I do it for God’s glory.
- I wipe noses for God’s glory.
- I cut up apples for God’s glory.
- I fold laundry for God’s glory.
- I’m awoken in the middle of the night for God’s glory.
- I break up fights for God’s glory.
- I prepare meals for God’s glory.
- I write an email for God’s glory.
- I correct behaviour for God’s glory.
Because whatever I do, whether in word or action, I can do it all for God’s glory.
– Colossians 3:17 (my edits)
So what’s the difference?
I close with a final punch from Tozer
It is not what you do that determines whether your work is sacred or secular, it is the why you do it.
The motive is everything…. So as you perform your never so simple task, you will hear the voice of angels saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
From The Overflow 