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1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1

9/7/2012

 
Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

Everything is Spiritual
Today's passage brings us back to the topic of liberty and meat sacrificed to idols.  Within this passage, Paul is basically saying again that meat is just meat and it's okay to eat it as long as you're doing it for the right reason and not harming others in doing so.  This is the context of the famous verse in 10:31, "For whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God."  This verse is placed within a specific context, but I would say that it most certainly can be expanded beyond this context.  Paul takes the most commonplace actions - eating and drinking - and shows us that even these things have spiritual significance.  You can do them to the glory of God, but you can also do them in such a way that they DO NOT glorify God.  There is significance even in these actions. 

The way that we should be thinking about life is like this:  everything is spiritual.  We have this strange tendency to separate "spiritual" things from "unspiritual" things, and I think this leads to problems.  Of course there are things that are "unspiritual" - namely sin.  But that's not what I'm talking about.  Most of us have a subconscious set of lists that we keep, something like this:

Spiritual Things:
church
worship songs
mission trips
devotions

Unspiritual/Neutral Things:
sports
food
sleep
job/school

The problem with this of course is that we are not divided in two.  We may have material and immaterial aspects to us, but they are not meant to be separated.  We will NOT spend eternity floating around like little ghosts in togas - we are given bodies for eternity.  We do not dwell in a simply spiritual realm for all of eternity:  we dwell upon the new and remade earth.  We think that we can glorify God in the "spiritual" things like singing praise songs and "serving" in church, but what about sleeping?  Can we glorify God with our sleep?  I think so.  Sports?  Absolutely.  As Abraham Kuyper said:

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

We are whole people and God has given us whole experiences and lives to live.  We cannot confine God and spirituality to one corner of our lives - it is all or nothing.  Spend some time today thinking on this - how can you glorify God in your eating and drinking and playing and sleeping?  Everyday decisions are spiritual decisions and it would do us good to remember that for the glory of God.

Questions?  Comments?
Andrei
9/7/2012 09:50:21 pm

I've asked this question a few times, and haven't remembered all the answers people said, but I wonder a lot about what it means to glorify God, and how God is glorified in things like sleeping, eating, etc... It's one of those common phrases in the Christian vocabulary that I can't easily define if someone asked me? When I think of glorifying God, I think about giving thanks, proclaiming God in whatever you're doing, understanding that your life is a blessing, humility, and some other things. But I was wondering what the definition of 'glorifying God' would be. Also, is it possible to do something that is not sinful that Doesn't glorify God?

Greg
9/11/2012 03:33:08 am

I may have referred to this before, but check out this short article:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/how-to-drink-orange-juice-to-the-glory-of-god

It does a great job of explaining this passage Biblically and I think answers your question well. It seems like a simple answer, but only until you actually try to do it. Then it seems quite difficult. I think the biggest point is that we are to spend our entire lives pointed to God. Figure out how to do that and you've figured out this verse.

Andrei
9/11/2012 04:21:15 pm

Great; thanks for the reference.

Gina
9/7/2012 11:12:48 pm

Amen to What we learn in this passage!


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