The Pursuit of God - Week #10

Chapter Ten – The Sacrament of Living

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” I Cor. 10:31

This wonderful book ends on the high note of God’s estimation of the sacredness of all aspects of our humanity. No other religion gives such honor and dignity to humanity in its entirety. God most dramatically expresses His endorsement and approval and delight over His creation of a being that is spirit, soul, and body by becoming a human Himself in Christ Jesus. But on top of that, Jesus will be the God-Man forever with a physical (though glorified and immortal) body!

This reality alone should be evidence enough to us that God loves the blending of the unseen and the seen, the spiritual and the natural. We see His pleasure in His exclamation of approval over His creation of the first Adam; then we see this pleasure manifested in His coming in the flesh Himself and in Christ’s eternal identity as the God-Man.

Tozer addresses the common human problem of separating “the sacred and the secular…Our trouble springs from the fact that we who follow Christ inhabit at once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural…Merely to live among men requires of us years of hard toil and much care and attention to the things of this world. In sharp contrast…is our life in the Spirit…we possess heavenly status and enjoy intimate fellowship with Christ. This tends to divide our total life into two departments. We come to unconsciously recognize two sets of actions…”

The two sets of actions Tozer refers to are those actions which are more directly related to the unseen (which, without faith, have no meaning to them), and those actions which have to do with all the ordinary activities of life needed to exist on this material planet.

We commonly think of the actions tied to the visible realm as unspiritual and consequently feel uneasy about spending time with this. We know they are necessary for survival but see them as unspiritual.

“The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the offering of His total life and made no distinction between act and act….”

Tozer emphasizes how this sacred-secular divide is most dramatically seen in the unbiblical hatred of the body seen in some ancient Christian writings and states that one true act of consecration of our entire being (Rom. 12:1-3; Rom. 6:13) makes all our subsequent acts (the exception being sin and the flesh) expressions of that consecration.

Then Tozer addresses the reality that while we may see this truth and embrace it theologically, there are mindsets deeply ingrained in us that will keep us bound to this sacred-secular divide in spite of our doctrinal beliefs, robbing us of the joy of being human in all its dimensions. He states that long-held habits (of thinking) do not die easily.

I find it fascinating how Tozer says that we get free from this sacred-secular dilemma. When read in context, his primary solution for this dilemma is through prayer! I believe this is true because we are born fallen in our thinking and so it’s not automatic for us to think like God. In His presence and through listening to Him, we begin to have the strongholds in our thinking broken so that we align with His thoughts.

Tozer suggests practical ways that the sacred-secular divide is erased:
• By meditation on this truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it to our minds frequently as we move about among men…
• It will take intelligent thought and a great deal of reverent prayer to escape completely from the sacred-secular psychology…
• Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go about the job of living.

I agree with Tozer and his conclusion that without prayer and waiting on God, we cannot come to the revelation that in God there is no dichotomy. To the natural mind this doesn’t make sense to say that it is through prayer that we know there is no divide, and yet I would venture to suggest that the men and women throughout Church history who most understood the sacrament of living were those who prayed the most. Because of their dedication to the God of the place and time of prayer (Matt. 6), they became people whose entire life was a prayer. They were men and women who fully accepted their humanity and its implications and who most enjoyed God and others in whatever setting they were in.

The chapter ends with some clarifying remarks so that the reader doesn’t misunderstand and carry his theme to the wrong extreme:
• (This) does not mean that everything we do is of equal importance with everything else we do or may do…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…
• (This) does not mean that every man is as useful as every other man. Gifts differ in the Body of Christ. A Billy Bray is not to be compared with a Luther or a Wesley…but the service of the less gifted brother is as pure as that of the more gifted and God accepts both with equal pleasure…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…

There are seasons of our lives when certain duties ebb and flow, and it’s important to be in touch with this reality as well.

Above all, my admonition to the follower of Jesus in this technological age is to fight for that time in prayer (even if it’s just grabbing 15 minutes here and there through the day) so that the Spirit of God can begin to convince us of the sacrament of all living. As we practice His presence constantly (both in the secret place and in the public place), all of life will take on a charm because of His manifest Presence at all times.

I believe also that as we approach the end of the age, a corporate prayer life will be increasingly significant if we are to enter fully into what God’s mind and heart is for humanity and particularly for His Bride (all of us together). This increasing revelation will free our hearts to enjoy Him and one another in all that we do under His Lordship.

“Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be altogether Thine; I would exalt Thee above all. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of Thee. I want constantly to be aware of Thy overshadowing Presence and to hear Thy speaking Voice. I long to live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so fully in the Spirit that all my thought may be sweet incense ascending to Thee and every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray in the words of Thy great servant of old, ‘I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the intent of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee.’ And all this I confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.”

The Lord bless you and may the light and smile of His face shine on you this week!