Do I have a double life?

I’m sure we have all heard stories of a woman who is happily married to a great husband who goes to church with her each week.  He has a good job making good money, is a good father to their children and life just seems perfect.  Until his secret comes out – he has either been addicted to porn for years, or has a mistress on the side or a drug habit…whatever…the story can change from situation to situation.  How can this be?  How can someone live such a double life?  Yet, many Christians do exactly that! 

Unfortunately, I have known far too many Christians who live a double life.  They are at the bar on Friday nights doing whatever they please and less than 48 hours later you can find them in Sunday school.  Although it may seem that they have the best of both worlds, is this possible?  Can a person truly be at peace with God and themselves if they are living two very different lives?  Most of us probably don’t live a double life to that extreme, but we probably have a divided life. 

Tozer writes, “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.”  Most Christians have divided their lives into two categories and many try to keep these areas apart from each other.  The problem is that God did not design us to live this way.  He desires us to live a unified life, not a divided life. 

We live in a physical world; we work at physical jobs, live in physical houses and drive physical cars.  Yet we are children of God and have the Holy Spirit living in us and are to enjoy fellowship with Christ.  In order to help us live with this dichotomy we have developed spiritual activities such as prayer, Bible reading, worship, church attendance or attendance at a small group. Those are the things that we label spiritual activities.  Yet just because you are doing these so called spiritual activities, doesn’t mean God accepts them.  The key is your heart, are you doing them to glorify Him, to serve Him and out of love for Him?

Then there is the other side, the ordinary physical activities of life such as eating, sleeping, working, taking care of our bodies and performing the duties of being a wife and mother or husband and father.  These we do begrudgingly, thinking that they are a waste of time and energy.  We would rather do more “spiritual things”. But is this so? 

Most Christians are caught in the trap of living between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world, trying to find a balance between the two and as a result having no peace in either.  They just end up confused and exhausted.    Yet is this necessary?  Are we supposed to live between these two worlds?  What did Christ model?  He slept, He ate, He spent time with friends, He did ministry, He went to synagogue, He prayed…

Jesus also lived in complete obedience to the will of the Father (Heb. 10:7; Jn. 14:31; Jn. 12:49; Mt. 21:4). Jesus lived in a human body and never once performed a non-sacred act.  Paul gives us some insight into this by teaching us to do everything to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).  This opens us up to connecting the spiritual and the physical in our world.  Could it be that the very way I live my life (including the physical) can bring glory to God…yes!!!

If I treat my husband with respect, serve my family, take care of my body through good eating, sleep and exercise habits – it can bring glory to God.  When I keep my house clean, invite friends over for dinner, plant a garden and shovel my driveway - I can bring glory to God.  Paul even mentions that eating and drinking can bring glory to God (or not). Now, I need to watch my motivations because I can do all these things to bring glory to myself. 

Every act of our bodies has the potential to bring God glory.  We cannot divide our lives into God’s Kingdom and the Kingdom of this world; we must live in such a way as to bring constant glory to God.  Let’s live as every act is a sacrament.  If we are completely consecrated to God then the attitude we have when folding laundry and making supper for our families matters.  These aren’t mundane activities; they can bring glory to God. 

There is no dilemma between the sacred and the secular.  Everything we do can be an act of spiritual worship to our Lord.  This will take a change of mind, a new perspective yet it brings much freedom and hope.  We must keep reminding ourselves that the mundane matters, our simple deeds are noticed by God and can bring Him glory.

God intends for us to live our lives in such a way that they are pleasing to Him (Rom. 12:1-2).  Each person has a different calling, some to the workforce, some to full-time ministry, others to the home.  It isn’t what you do that determines the sacred or secular but rather WHY you do it and for WHOM you do it for.  Once again, motive is everything.  If you do your tasks for the Lord, they are not common, they are acts of worship.  Don’t get sucked into doing them for your own glory! 

Think about how you spend your recreational time, how you eat or exercise, and the time you spend with the Lord reading the Word or in prayer as well as how you treat your spouse and kids.  Do these activities bring glory to God?  They can!