“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” — 1st Corinthians 10:31
Something God has been helping me wrap my mind around of late. Because worshipping God is so much more than we’ve been taught.
All through the Scriptures we read stories and descriptions of people, we read about things they did, that just don’t seem to fit into contemporary Western Christianity. Abraham laughed when God told him he would be the father of a great nation, being already nearly a hundred years old; Jacob wrestled with God, and refused to let go till God blessed him; Moses stood in between God and the Israelites and reminded Him of His promises; David complained to God, and let his emotions be clearly understood when he talked with Him; and Solomon tells us to eat and drink wine with a joyful heart and celebrate, because God approves of this kind of behaviour. Every person’s life recorded in the Bible gives us a picture of what it means to be human, and to belong to God. Because we are human, and the beauty that comes with that is a part of our being made in God’s image — to do all things beautifully. But what part of those stories I’ve mentioned above has your pastor spoken to you about?
I want you to understand what Paul tells us in the verse above. That we are to do everything for God’s glory. He never gave us a list of things that are considered God-honouring for humans to do. Through Christ and for Christ do all things exist. That means sitting down and looking out the window on your yard can glorify God. That means that listening to your favourite film score can give glory to God. Wiggling your toes. Giving a friendly smile to a stranger. Snuggling into the covers with your husband or wife. Driving down the road, maybe heading nowhere in particular. Digging in to a good meal. Enjoying a cold beer on a warm spring day. Throwing a baseball with friends. Pushing your cart through the grocery store isle. Tucking your son or daughter in to bed. Tightening a loose belt in your car. Driving with the windows down, mixing a smoothie, putting up wallpaper, checking your weight, listening to the sound of a soda can open, tying up your hair to keep it out of your eyes, hanging a picture on the wall, looking at the clouds, feeling the breeze on your skin, pulling on your favourite pair of shoes. The list doesn’t end, but I hope you’re getting the point. That you wake and walk and run and sing and dance and cry and live, because God made you to do so, and to do all things for His glory. Worship is not confined to a building or a day, to a set of lyrics or a method of prayer. Worship is living your life in recognition of the fact that it is a gift from God — the very air in your lungs and the blood flowing through your veins was not yours to choose, but is a gift of grace. And He means us to use every moment of that gift which He gives to us, to live our lives, to be creative and joyful and honest, and to love each second of this crazy, unpredictable journey in this beautiful world that He made for us to revel in.
I hope that today, whatever you do, you realize that your very life is a testament to God’s goodness and glory; that breathing in the fresh air that you didn’t create, you choose to glorify God with each step and struggle and thought and deed that comes with it. Because life was designed to praise the One who made it.
— Joel