Let’s get straight to the point. In the final chapter of Tozer’s The Pursuit of God, he says this:
One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas – the sacred and the secular.
I would tend to agree that we do this and that it is a problem. We approach our daily lives with one set of activities or thoughts that are pleasing and useful to God. These might include prayer, going to church and reading the Bible. We might consider every other activity to be a waste of time from God’s perspective and we may feel a bit guilty about them. Eating, sleeping, working out, and just hanging around with friends and family are examples of this. We are left with a constant dilemma that we ought to be doing more of the sacred activities and less of the secular ones.
Tozer would argue that the dilemma is unnecessary. Paul may have agreed with him:
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
I think it is true that our tendency is to live two compartmentalized lives rather than one life solely focused on God in all that we do. Can we eat, drink, work, relax, laugh, cry all for the glory of God and for His good pleasure? I think we can, but we first have to believe we can and intend to do it.
We really do need to move EVERYTHING from the secular compartment to the sacred one. Then, we need to set fire to the secular one and never look back. Anyone up for a good fire!
