When God inspired the Words of Paul in 1Corinthians 10:31, I don’t think God had a time, culture, movement, or period in mind.  The truth of this verse is pretty straight forward: “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  The eternal God set this out for humanity to pursue, obey, and join.  As we look around us, we can’t help but see that times are changing and changing quicker than any of us know or think.  When it comes to living out Christ, there is no other option–or should I say–privilege than to live a life that presents to all the multi-faceted glory of God’s magnificence.  What an honor.

For many of us, however, we really struggle with this privilege.  This is because we all still have the remnants of sin in us so we struggle at what the glory of God looks like in every situation of life.  This is what the verse is talking about though–every situation of life. We tend to compartmentalize life.  When we go to church, we can glorify God there, but in my house, in my own little corner of the world, I can and will do anything and everything I want to.  We don’t know how God gets the glory in our “time off,” so, we live for self-glory.  This failure to live out God’s glory has great impact in our personal lives, then it spreads into our family, and we bring it to the gathering of the church–and then wonder why the church seems so lifeless.  God’s glory is not some mystical feeling or emotional tickle, it is God and all He is living through us and thus demonstrating Himself in us.  This too has a tremendous impact on us personally, in our families and relationships, and we then bring this into the gathering of the church as well.  When all of the church gathered has this kind of vibrant, God-glorifying personal life, it shows up with life and joy overflowing from within individuals.  It doesn’t have to be “miked” or put up on a screen, and it can’t be forced or mimicked.  The glory and the presence of God is either there…or, it isn’t.  It is as simple as that.

It is very easy for us to align ourselves with a culture, a region of the country, or movement and simply “do” what the particular culture demands.  It is easy because we really don’t have to go to God and really seek Him, or we don’t have to “see” God at work in all of this, we just have to “do.”  Those of you that have been around me much know that I love to ask the question, “Where is God in all of this?”  I do this because my default is always, “What do I think” or “How do I feel about this?” and I unintentionally leave God completely out of it.   The truth is, God is never left out of anything–no matter what we feel or what we think.  So, let the times change!  We shouldn’t fear, we should behold our God at work and seek His great goodness, grace, and glory!