ALL for Jesus . . .

During our holidays I had time to think about simplifying life. One thing on my heart was being more focused on what God says to me each day. He wants me to look for a clear application and be thankful. This morning I’d planned to move into 2 Corinthians. God had other ideas.

My ‘Bible read through’ this year is using The Message. It is not the greatest translation yet offers insights that are much like those coming from a commentary. Today I read the bridge between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah, then a few chapters in Isaiah. In that bridge, the translator wrote about the role of Israel’s prophets. Part of this says:

   “One of the bad habits that we pick up early in our lives is separating things and people into secular and sacred. We assume that the secular is what we are more or less in charge of: our jobs, our time, our entertainment, our government, our social relations. The sacred is what God has charge of: worship and the Bible, heaven and hell, church and prayers. We then contrive to set aside a sacred place for God, designed, we say, to honor God but really intended to keep God in his place, leaving us free to have the final say about everything else that goes on.

   “Prophets will have none of this. They contend that everything, absolutely everything, takes place on sacred ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: The way we feel and act in the so-called privacy of our hearts and homes, the way we make our money and the way we spend it, the politics we embrace, the wars we fight, the catastrophes we endure, the people we hurt and the people we help. Nothing is hidden from the scrutiny of God, nothing is exempt from the rule of God, nothing escapes the purposes of God. Holy, holy, holy.”

The Holy Spirit reminded me again of a verse in 1 Corinthians that points to the same life-focus, a simplicity that is both comprehensive and not as easy as it looks . . .

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

This is God’s Word for me today: think about how I can glorify God in all that I do, like laundry, tidying up the leftover to-do list from our holidays, answer calls and emails, mail a couple of pattern orders, make supper for my husband, and generally be thankful for all that happens, all His blessings.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord, I know many Christians make lists of stuff they give You and other lists that they can handle by themselves. I’ve been like that much of my Christian life and realize again that You never intended Your people to think sacred / secular. All of life is sacred and all of life is for Your glory. This is a marvelous reality and takes the humdrum out of daily life. You even make all of it an adventure, an exciting walk with You including the ability to see You in the ordinary as well as the special. For this I am grateful!

Today’s thankful list . . .  

The ability of the Holy Spirit to change my plans.

Music that honors the Lord.

Software that lets me talk to a far-away granddaughter for nearly two hours, no cost.

Having a granddaughter that wants to talk to granny that long!

Fresh veggies for summer salads.

The rain and the sunshine, often at the same time.

That mountain of laundry is done, ironed and in the closet.

Worldliness begins with an attitude

Many Christians think that worldliness is going to movies, watching too much television, spending money at the mall (particularly on Sunday), and having a well-paying career. Yet if I refrain from doing those things, I can still be worldly.

Worldly is better defined as “life thought of and lived apart from God.” A more familiar term is “secular,” which is not exactly the same idea, but close.

Worldliness is more about the inner person, the mind and motivations, than it is about what I am doing. Of course, having a worldly mind-set will affect what I am doing. The bottom line is that my Christian life will be in danger whenever my thoughts leave out God.

John warns me, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15–17)

Whenever I read this, I think of blatant desires such as too much food, sinful relationships, having more than I need, boasting and showing off, the obvious sins that mark a life lived apart from God, but by definition, worldliness is not always that obvious.

Today’s devotional booklet says that worldliness is about my thought-life. When my mind leaves God out, does not consult Him, does not consider His will, does not turn to Him when I feel needy, does not consider giving Him glory or saying thanks when things go well, then I am worldly. It is a spiritual danger because life flows out of our thoughts.

Jesus had this spiritual danger of worldliness in mind and prayed for His people about it. He said, “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:11)

Here, being kept by God means oneness with Christ, a unity that is cannot be worldly as long as that oneness is enjoyed. Unity is also oneness with other Christians, but it can be broken when any of us leave God out of our lives.

Jesus continued to pray, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:14–19)

Here I can see what might cause me to leave God out. The first thing is being hated by others because I am not worldly. One person yelled at me, “I don’t want to talk to you because you always bring God into the conversation.” That sort of rejection is a temptation to worldliness.

The evil one is always at it too, suggesting all sorts of ways to ‘do it yourself’ and not bring God into the picture. He is subtle. I think of those days when I’ve been so busy doing my own thing that I didn’t think of God or bring Him into any of my plans and actions.

Another temptation to worldliness comes with being different and set apart for God, which is what sanctification means. That can make me feel out of the loop, odd, misunderstood and other negatives which worldliness might do away with, at least for a little while. If I were not sanctified, if God were not at the center of my life, I might feel like I fit in and am not so alienated from others.

Another pressure is that idea of being ‘sent’ by Jesus into the world. He’s my boss, my motivator. Leaving Him out of things would allow me to do what I want to do, live like I please, satisfying those worldly desires and feeling good about fitting in, being accepted.

All of this sounds like a big ‘pity-party’ and it can become that, but not by keeping my focus on God. It is leaving Him out that makes me eventually experience that ‘poor-me’ feeling about the blessings I am missing. 

Indulging in worldliness is not at all what it promises. Leaving God out leaves a huge space empty. It does not work. Worldliness is a snare and a trap that I need to avoid.

Secularism

Secular describes the realm of worldly, temporal, unspiritual things, including the attitude toward life of an ungodly person. It was this attitude that ruined Esau. He had been hunting. When he came home, he was hungry and his brother was stirring a pot of stew. When he asked for some, Jacob offered to trade it for the “birthright” that belonged to the eldest son. Esau replied, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (Genesis 25:32)

The Bible says Esau was more concerned about his stomach than his eternal well-being. The birthright was an important part of his heritage and had high spiritual values for God’s people, but this man didn’t care. He’d rather eat, and while being hungry is not a sin, putting food ahead of a sacred blessing gave Esau a historical designation; both Old and New Testaments record God as saying of him…

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. (Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13)

The New Testament comments on Esau as an example of someone who falls short. Bitterness can do it, as can sexual immorality, but so can having a secular or godless mind.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. (Hebrews 12:15–17)

Some Bibles translate “unholy” as “profane,” a description of people who judge things by coarse earthly standards, without spiritual understanding or insight. They are aware of every other desire, but have no inclination or desire toward God.

Esau had no self-control, but also no appreciation of spiritual values. To him, the birthright was a vague religious blessing, so when the choice came, it seemed a distant sentiment compared to the here and now advantage of a full stomach.

I could put down Esau, but I know how easily I can drift into that secular realm, to have my spiritual values sail off into the sunset while I busily become taken up with the things of this life. I can forget that all of life is sacred and give up on seeking to be godly in all that I do. As today’s devotional writer says, it is easy when “soul wars with sense” to “depreciate everything that is beyond sense” and let my moral standards sag. It is for good reason that the Scripture warns, “See that no one… is godless like Esau.”

Living below my privileges and spiritual opportunities is equivalent to despising my birthright. I am a child of God, reborn to an inheritance and a joint heir with Christ. I belong to the kingdom of heaven, but when I forget or ignore that, I am disinheriting myself as Esau did.

There are consequences. When secular temptation strikes a weak spot, my spiritual life becomes dim. God’s love and holiness, the reality of His kingdom and righteousness, and my life of faith, prayer and fellowship with Him become shadowy and far off.

Besides that, eating the stew is no profit either. Momentary gratification of even legitimate passions mean nothing when that moment is a trade-off for clarity of spiritual vision and a pure heart. What profit is easy self-indulgence if I trade it for peace, love, holiness and joy? Perhaps the worst is what happens after such a trade-off…

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:34)

Esau had his fill and carried on. He didn’t even notice that his life was impoverished. Only later, when he wanted the birthright did he finally realize it was no longer his — but it was too late to do anything to get it back.