Sanctification of the Secular

I have long thought about and observed the way Middle Eastern people seem to live and act with the attitude and belief that their god is never separated from everything they experience. Their life is completely and eternally entwined with the spiritual; there is no and cannot be any separation of the two.

They do not compartmentalize any thing in their life. Everything has a spiritual meaning.

How different is the mindset of the Western population, but especially that of Western Christians!

For Christians it ought not to be so.

A.W. Tozer wrote about this in his book ‘Man: The Dwelling Place Of God’ in the chapter called “The Sanctification of the Secular.”

Tozer wrote “The vast majority of men engage in the complicated business of living while trusting wholly in themselves, without reference to God or redemption…” We have put “living” in the compartment called “secular.”

“These activities and all else that goes to fill up our days are usually separated in our minds from prayer, church attendance and such specific religious acts as are performed most of the week and by laymen briefly once or twice weekly.”

Paul wrote that every simple thing we do may be sacramental, that is, to God’s glory, whether it be eating or drinking or our vocational work. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Colossians 3:17, 23:

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

“Some of the great saints, who were great because they took such admonitions seriously and sought to practice them, manage to achieve the sanctification of the secular.

These pure souls broke down the high walls that separated the various areas of their lives from each other and saw all as one; and that one they offered to God as a holy oblation acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

Tozer points out that none of this is to defy the fall of man. Every believer cannot defy the fall, nor deny the reality of sin. Evil things are done by evil people who refuse to accept the grace and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.

“It is possible to recognize the sacredness of all things even while admitting that for the time the mystery of sin worketh in the children of disobedience and the whole creation groaneth and travaileth, waiting for the manifestation of the children of God.”

However he writes “The church today is suffering from the secularization of the sacred. By accepting the world’s values, thinking it’s thoughts and adopting it’s ways we have dimmed the glory that shines overhead. We have not been able to bring earth to the judgment of heaven so we have brought heaven to the judgment of the earth.”

How do we “sanctify the secular”?

In the next chapter “True Faith is Active, Not Passive,” he writes:

[True faith] “…requires that we meet certain conditions, that we allow the teachings of Christ to dominate our total lives from the moment we believe… The effort to enjoy the benefits of redemption while enmeshed in the world is futile.”

[There must be a shift] “…of interest from earth to heaven, from men to God, from time to eternity, from earthly gain to Christ and His eternal kingdom.”

³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 8

The ONLY thing that separates man from God is man’s refusal to believe.

“The man who recoils from this revolutionary kind of Christianity is retreating before the cross. But thousands do retreat, and they try to make things right by seeking baptism and church membership. No wonder they are so dissatisfied.”