All to the glory of God

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  – Colossians 3.17

One of the saddest things that happens in our Christian lives is when we divide our ‘sacred’ responsibilities and our ‘secular’ responsibilities.

A few years ago I was in correspondence with someone who was questioning something I had done. The point they made was that they questioned the wisdom of doing it on God’s time (as a ministry) instead of on my time. They felt like if what I had done was on my own time it would have been acceptable, but since I was doing as a part of ministry I should have avoided it.

I wrote back, trying not to sound too sanctimonious, that all of my time was God’s time. I didn’t punch a clock to be on God’s time.

All of our lives, whatever we are doing needs to be done in a way that God can be glorified.

So how do we do that? How do we do everything for God's glory?

The first thing I think we need to apply is that if we cannot ask God to be glorified in it we probable should not do it to start with. If it is sinful or will 'lead us into temptation' we ought to just leave it alone.

But let's just say it is not sin. Maybe it is just something we enjoy like watching sports or exercising or some type of entertainment.

I think we need to use these opportunities to reach out and, when possible, try to use them to reach out to others. Sure, we all need that down time when we can do something alone, but at the same time we need to not be selfish with our time and our activities.

Let me share a personal example that the Lord has recently laid on my heart. My only really exercise or physical activity is walking, but I do walk. I walk every day and am on target to walked well over 1,500 kilometres (almost 950 miles) so far this year. Walking is walking – how can you do that for the glory of God?

About six weeks ago I prayed for more chance to share the gospel. The Lord since then has opened the door to clearly share my faith more times that I have had in the last year.

Now, I prefer to walk early, very early, in the summer. Like 5.00 (yes in the morning) or so. The problem is there is no one to talk to at 5.00 (believe it or not). Now, if I want my walks to glorify God (unless I need the prayer time) I move my walks to a time when I will see people and be able to stop and talk with them and, as God provides chances to be a friend and to eventually share my faith.

Now that’s a simple thing. No biggie as they say. But it is an example of how we can do the mundane things for the glory of God.

Whatever we do, whatever, let it be done for God’s glory.