Rather than think that God’s primacy means that nothing else matters, it is precisely because God is number one that everything else does matter. (Michael E. Wittmer in Heaven is a Place on Earth, Zondervan Publish, p. 97)
The quote above is from a book I have been reading by, Michael E. Wittmer, a professor at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. The focus of the book is his belief that many Christians have so focused on the world being broken and evil that the goal is to escape this place and go to heaven. Wittmer’s hope is to correct this view, which he concludes is not an accurate biblical understanding of this world. If you want the full argument, I encourage you to pick it up at your local Bible bookstore.
What I want to focus on is the implication of the above statement. In this section of the book Wittmer is countering the notion that being a true Christian means that one stops doing anything else that is not spiritual. The impression preachers often give is that the only meaningful pursuits a believer can and should have are prayer, Bible study and evangelizing one’s neighbor. Everything else is meaningless, or at the very least, not really that important.
Wittmer’s correction is reflected in Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” That is, worship for the believer is not limited to an hour on Sunday, not only to brief devotional moments in which one prays, reads her Bible or shares her faith with the person in the cubicle next to her at work. Rather, worship is a lifestyle, and because God created the universe and proclaimed it “very good,” every aspect of life falls under the category of giving God glory.
Of course, when sin entered the human story, the world got turned on its head. However, neither humanity, nor the world lost its mark as the handiwork of God. While broken, the earth is still the Lord’s and everything in it. So, what does this mean for you when you get up on Tuesday morning to go to work at the factory or on Wednesday when you are changing diapers or on Friday night when you’re watching your child play basketball?
It means that choosing Christ and putting God first in one’s life does not mean that nothing other than church-related functions matter. To the contrary, it means that EVERYTHING matters! Now, don’t get me wrong. Not everything should have equal priority in one’s life. Our families need to take precedence over Sunday afternoon football. Bible reading can and should begin to take precedence over other things in our lives that seem to fritter away our time. However, the same Jesus who told us “unless we take up our cross and follow” Him, also told us that “even a cup of cold water” given in His name is an act of service. So, both the big things as well as the simple, everyday things are part of what it means to live out worship of a God who is number one in our lives. Everything matters and has the potential of being offered up to God as an act of worship.
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