A Life Spent in Dualism

Christians are caught today in a life of dualism, a life spent divided between the sacred and the secular. We compartmentalize and divorce the one from the other. To the sacred we assign such actions as, prayer, reading the bible, preaching the gospel, spiritual conversation, church attendance ect.. Secular tasks are all those other things which are necessary such as eating, drinking, sleeping, education, career/job, most books, entertainment, the majority of friendships, the majority of conversations ect. People who do more of the sacred things are generally considered more pious. Once we have separated life into two camps, the secular and sacred we then consciously by our own choosing or subconsciously by the will of our culture and environment assign certain actives to each camp. We do secular tasks either because they feel good and aren't strictly forbidden (entertainment, video games, movies, smoking, drinking alcohol, knitting, reading, void conversations and void friendships) or because such secular tasks are necessary (eating, drinking, sleeping, education, conversations with no intent.)


Living life in this state of continual choice between secular and sacred is horrible, constantly having to ask yourself, "how much time do I have for God today?", "can I afford to read my bible all day and perhaps not get a good grade?" "can I trust God with my friendships and spend the day praying to him rather then texting and emailing?" Questions like these constantly plague the lives of people who want to please God but are stuck in a lifestyle in which they have to choose between secular and sacred. When they choose to do a secular think they are often beset by guilt because they know they could be using their time better. When they choose to do a spiritual thing they find it boring and tedious because the secular things are so much more enjoyable and satisfying,.

So, what would happen if Christians started viewing everything as sacred. Paul says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." He takes us automaticly to the lowest level of secular activity, eating and drinking and says even that can be done for God's glory. Now if eating and drinking can be glorifying to God can not also other things which we often fear to do because of guilt or shame? Things such as playing Frisbee, knitting, reading. Please understand, I AM NOT saying this so as to allow you all to engage in all manner of vain devilry and so waste your life away in a sham show which claims to glorify God. But the real point of this post is to say that it is not the action which one does which is either secular or sacred, rather it is the intent with which you go into that action. A godly man playing Frisbee glorifies God more then an atheist reading his bible. Because its not about the action which occurs but the man who goes into the action and the worship which goes on in the man who is doing in the action.

Practically what does all this mean? I think it means that we need to stop allowing ourselves to do things simply because they aren't wrong. Just because we can morally justify a course of action does not mean it's the thing we ought to do. I think we need to start asking ourselves honestly whether we believe we can glorify God in whatever task we are wanting to do. If someone can consciously worship God while dancing at a club then dance the night away. If they have to forget God while they dance and give themselves over to fleshly pleasure to have a good time then they have forgotten God and so shame themselves and Him who they represent.

The greatest pleasure, motivation and joy come from dwelling on God and so to participate in any activity and experience the best results one ought to be constantly thinking about God. When we play a sport we should dwell on God because he gave us our bodies to play and so gain power to play harder When we paint we should dwell on God because he gave our minds power to imagine beauty and so gain insight to paint better. When we study we should study with all our being because God gave us a mind to learn and we have a duty to learn as much as God will allow us. There is never a time, place or activity which God does not desire to engage in with us and so make that time, place and activity better. We limit God to certain areas of our life which we call sacred. Anytime we limit God we hurt ourselves and anytime we don't limit God He will change us. And this is the challenge from this post, if we dwell on God constantly and free God to interact with us in all that we do then He will most certainly show what things are a waste of our time and either with a kind word and a leading hand or a surgeons knife and a blacksmiths fire He will remove those things from our life. So the question is are we willing to do this, to make a sacrifice of our things we are used to and allow God to engage with us always?