The Sacrament of Living was the title of the last chapter in A. W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. Here is a bit of what he said:
“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. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a unified life.”
And later on…
“It does not mean, for instance, that everything we do is of equal importance with everything else we do or may do. One act of a good man’s life may differ widely from another in importance. Paul’s sewing of tents was not equal to his writing of an Epistle to the Romans, but both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship. Certainly it is more important to lead a soul to Christ that to plant a garden, but the planting of the garden can be as holy an act as the winning of a soul.
The ‘layman’ need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary.”
When we belong to Jesus, we should do everything for Him who loves us so much! Even though some actions may not be as important as others, like brushing your hair isn’t vital to your Christian life like praying is, we should still do them with the same fervor for God. He made us to bring glory to Him and He created us, knowing that we would do many different things during the day.
Our daily routines sometimes seem to consist of ordinary and sometimes insignificant things, but they provide a training ground for us to learn to do our work with joy to the glory of God and make wise decisions in the little things. The Bible verse talks about being faithful in small things – “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” God has our futures in His hands and he often gives us areas to practice with seemingly normal tasks in our homes and families that will benefit us for ministry later. We want to be where God has placed us right now, and obedience is obedience – whether it’s sharing the Gospel with the lost, caring for a parent or younger sibling, or lovingly serving your family by washing the dirty dishes.
So take heart and go on today in the Lord’s strength and grace to conquer the tasks that are set before you today, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” Colossians 3:17