All to the glory of God
The sacredness of everything
Paul takes the principle of doing everything for God and pushes it to its furthest, most ordinary edge: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Even eating and drinking — the most basic, mundane, unspiritual-seeming activities imaginable — can be done to the glory of God. There is no activity too small or too ordinary to be offered to him.
This is the full flowering of the active life: not just our explicitly good works and acts of mercy, but the entire fabric of ordinary existence, taken up and offered to God's glory. The meal eaten with gratitude, the rest enjoyed as his gift, the conversation, the chore, the small pleasure — all of it can become an act of worship when done consciously for him. Nothing in a life surrendered to God is merely secular; everything can be sacred.
This dissolves the last remaining divide between the spiritual and the ordinary. We do not serve God only in our religious activities and good deeds, with the rest of life as neutral filler; we can glorify him in everything, down to the smallest and most routine acts. Whatever you do, Paul says elsewhere, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Imagine your whole day, even its most ordinary moments, taken up into the glory of God. What would change if you did even your eating and drinking for him?
“Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
— Paul, to the Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 10:31 (WEB)
Offer the whole fabric of ordinary life — down to eating and drinking — to the glory of God, dissolving the last divide between the spiritual and the mundane.
“Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through him.”
A stubborn seam runs through our days, splitting the sacred few hours from the ordinary many, so most of life feels like neutral filler that has nothing to do with God. The interior work is to follow Paul out to the furthest edge — that even eating and drinking can be done to God's glory — until that last seam dissolves and the whole fabric of existence, down to its smallest act, becomes possible worship.
This week, take up the ordinary for God: consciously offer your most routine activities — a meal, rest, a chore, a conversation — to his glory, doing them in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanks, until the whole day becomes worship.
The enemy is happy to leave a wall standing between the spiritual and the ordinary, so the bulk of your hours feel like dead time disconnected from God. But a life that does all to his glory leaves him nothing to claim as merely secular — when even a meal and a chore become worship, the whole of existence is reclaimed as sacred.
We naturally divide our activities into the spiritual and the ordinary — prayer and good works on one side, eating and drinking and routine tasks on the other. Paul pushes the active life to its furthest edge and erases the line: whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. Even the most mundane, unspiritual-seeming activities can be offered to him.
This is the full flowering of a formed life. Not just our explicit good deeds, but the entire fabric of ordinary existence — meals, rest, conversation, chores, small pleasures — can become worship when done consciously for God's glory. Nothing in a surrendered life is merely secular; everything can be sacred. This dissolves the last divide between the spiritual and the ordinary, so the whole day, down to its smallest acts, is taken up into the glory of God. What would change in your most routine moments if you did even your eating and drinking for him?
- Do I divide my life into the spiritual and the ordinary filler?
- Could even my most routine acts be offered to God's glory?
- What would change if I did even my eating and drinking for him?
Lord, I divide my life into the spiritual and the ordinary, leaving most of it as neutral filler. Teach me to do all to your glory, even eating and drinking. Let my whole day, down to its smallest acts, be taken up into worship in the name of Jesus. Amen.