Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father help us not to get caught in the trap of misunderstanding the secular and the sacred of our lives. Father, you own all things and all people. Though not all embrace and acknowledge your ownership, there is not one minuscule bit of creation that you did not make and that you do not sustain. How quick my heart is to see everything on my terms, and not yours. How quick I am to make excuses for my disobedience and discontent. In the name of Jesus forgive me Father, for not acting as you have called me and made me capable to, as a sanctuary of worship for your Holy Spirit. Forgive me. Share your joy with me that it might strengthen me. And keep me near to your heart, Father. Amen.
Your Morning Song: "The Jesus Way" by Phil Wickham
Your Morning Scripture: Mark 1:16-18
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
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There is a very real tension for God's children, between what is secular and what is sacred. We could read the above verses as calling the work of fishing as a secular thing, and that evangelism is a sacred thing. Our regular everyday lives are secular, and religious, churchy things are sacred. Is this really what Jesus was doing here?
I hope your answer is a confident and resounding, "NO."
What is Jesus's ultimate purpose? Jesus called His disciples as a part of of His ultimate goal that we would believe that He is the Son of God who saves us, and that by believing, we would have eternal life. Jesus came to save sinners and raise us from the dead.
Jesus does not call us all to quit our secular jobs and become evangelists. Paul himself was a tent maker, a really tough job. No. The only thing secular is sin. God owns everything but sin.
God is calling us to His side, by the work of Jesus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and become His children.
And we can do that anywhere, anytime, in any job. The core/ultimate driving force of who we are deep down inside is the point. I am one of God's children. Jesus called the disciples to be a part of His plan to get more brothers and sisters in His kingdom. Not to give us a bizarre and unhelpful set of labels, secular and sacred.
If done to make God look good and to please Him, anything we do that is not sin, is sacred.
If we are not God's children, but instead seek to please only ourselves, we are dead in sin, and because all belongs to God, we are playing in a secular way with sacred things.
It makes sense that an unbelieving world would live like this.
It makes no sense when one of God's children lives like this.
Think, act, and speak according to God's purposes and for His pleasure. No matter what your job is. No matter what the world may say. No matter what your own self desires.
All of God's children, regardless of occupation, ought to have lines in the water.
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