Spiritual and Secular
The first time I heard the statement “Everything is Spiritual” was from Rob Bell in a DVD released in 2007. “Everything is Spiritual” is actually the title of the DVD, and I still recommend that DVD to people today – it can be found here for purchase.
The phrase turned up again in a book I read recently called Garden City, by John Mark Comer, which I also recommend.
In both of these works, the statement that “Everything is Spiritual” was used to correct the idea we tend to have that our lives are split into the spiritual and the secular. Church, prayer, Bible reading, and fasting are spiritual. Eating, going to a party, watching TV, and school or our jobs are secular. It’s easy to live as if there were a divide in these things.
Bell and Comer both tell us, however, that Jesus never spoke of his “Spiritual life.” To say we have a spiritual life means that we also have some other part of our life that is non-spiritual, and neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament make such a distinction.
If you track what you do in a day, how much of it is spent on those things we would consider spiritual? We spend eight hours sleeping (okay, maybe six hours if you like to stay up late). We spend eight hours a day at work. We spend a few hours a day eating. We spend hours on our phones, on social media, watching netflix or listening to music. We have our social lives, hobbies, and family responsibilities. So, even if you’re a really disciplined person who spend an hour or two every day reading your Bible and praying, what’s the ratio? Are those few hours a day actually the only parts of the day that God is interested in? Are those the only parts of the day where we are honoring our Creator?
I think not.
Everything is Spiritual
I’m not going to go really in depth here with this – I really recommend checking out the resources I put above, because they say it way better than I can – but I do want to share a quick thought on how I try to get rid of that divided mentality in my own life.
Colossians 3:16-17 (HCSB) says, “Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Verse sixteen explains how we accomplish verse seventeen. How do we keep in mind that everything is Spiritual? How do we make every moment an act of worship? How do we make sure everything, all that we say and all that we do, are in the name of Jesus? We do it by letting the message of Jesus, the Good News, the Gospel, “dwell richly” among us – that message lives with us and fills every moment of our lives.
God created us for community, so hanging out with friends, eating great meals with loved ones, celebrating and mourning in their proper times with the people we live life with, can all be moments filled with the presence and the glory of God.
God created us for rest, so vacation, relaxation, and just a weekly rhythm of slowing down and keeping a Sabbath are all moments where God is present in our lives.
God created us with specific gifts and talents and gave us a purpose (to rule and subdue the earth – making it look more and more like heaven – and to make disciples), so learning to sculpt and hone those talents and abilities (school/education) and opportunities to put them to use (work) are not secular moments, are not separate from God.
God’s presence and purpose aren’t relegated to the church building, to times of prayer and scripture reading, to times of spiritual discipline. Those moments are great and are indispensable in the life of a Christian, but they aren’t the only part of our lives where God dwells. God created us for love and community, for work and play, for sex, for food, for rest. He designed our bodies and the world we live in. And His purpose is to fill each and every moment we spend here.
The Endeavor 