I recently heard a pastor tell a story about a student who got in trouble in school. She was well-known by her church and considered a leader in her youth group. A member of the church saw the girl in detention and said, “I’m surprised to see you in trouble. I know how good you are in church.” To which the student responded, “I don’t let my church-life interfere with my life here at school.”
Maybe you know what it is like to have a church you and a rest-of-your-life you. That’s not just a student thing. That’s an everybody thing. Many of us struggle with this spiritual multiple personality disorder, but that’s not how we were intended to live.
I learned some time ago that there is no word in the Bible for “spiritual.” No one in the Old or New Testament, including Jesus, would have ever made a distinction between our spiritual and secular lives. You and I cannot be compartmentalized that way. Nor should we try.
I think the mistake we make is trying to give God the minimum. “Hey God,” we ask, “what do I have to do to be good in your eyes?” That’s not what God wants. Imagine asking your spouse about the minimum you need to do to keep him/her from breaking up with you. Or think of a friend saying, “I want to be your best friend, but I just want to be there for the good stuff. I don’t have to listen to your problems, do I?” Or think about your children asking what the minimum they need to do to keep you from sending them to military school. Ok, that one feels that way sometimes, but still…
None of those sound like very fulfilling relationships. Yet that is what we expect God to accept from us.
Jesus didn’t see it that way. He doesn’t just want the “spiritual” side of you (you don’t have one). He wants it all. He doesn’t want just to fill a “God-sized hole in your heart.” He wants all of you to be in relationship with all of Him.
