Seeking His Glory in the Laundry Room
January 31, 2014
My life could be described a lot of different ways but “exciting” would probably NOT make the list. So far today, I’ve gotten a child off to school, changed the sheets on the bed and run a couple of loads of laundry. Later, I’m going to the grocery store because like poor old Mother Hubbard, my cupboards are bare! Exciting? Not so much. For now, my days are spent mostly at home tending to home type things and I am mostly very content with that. So as we look at the last letter of the word FOCUS, I have to remember that just because I don’t have a “job” outside my home, I am not exempt from the letter S. S stands for “Seek His Glory”.
This is the truest and deepest heart and gut check as we set our minds to FOCUS on God. Are we seeking His Glory in everything we do? Can I really fold the laundry to the glory of God???
It’s interesting to see how each concept from this exercise overlaps with the other ideas. When we choose to FOCUS, we Forsake distractions, acknowledge His Omnipresence, Confess sinful motives, look to Understand His will and His word (but not His way) and finally Seek His glory. It’s very difficult to be distracted if we are truly acknowledging He is listening to us. We will often be convicted of sin when we fully understand His word. If we try to explain God’s way by analyzing everything He does, we “limit His wisdom with ours” and that doesn’t glorify Him at all.
Can we say with the Psalmist, “Not to us, Oh Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory”? (Psalm 115:1)
For the last 20 years, I have used the NASB Bible to study but occasionally I will look at other translations to help clarify a thought. The ESV Bible is getting a lot of airtime these days. Many pastors and scholars are using it and one day as I was studying, I read Romans 4:20 in the ESV. I was struck by the rendering of this verse.
“No unbelief made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”
Did you see that little word “as”? As Abraham gave glory to God, he grew strong in his faith. Seeking God’s glory builds our faith. We can only seek His glory in everything we do if we love Him with all we’ve got. That’s not very eloquent, so let me quote Spurgeon, “Where there is a heart enriched by the Holy Spirit teaching, there will be a Savior glorified beyond expression.”
How do we do this? Look how Jesus did it – He says in John 14:4 that He glorified God on earth by accomplishing the work God had given him to do. We glorify by God by doing the work God gives us to do! For me so far today, that was laundry and writing this blog.
In America, we are all acquainted with the idea of the separation of church and state even if we don’t quite understand the concept, but I think as Christians we have separated our own lives, compartmentalizing them into work, church, free time, etc. We know we can glorify God at church but do we think about glorifying him at our job? At the gym? At the grocery store? At the kids soccer practice? Cooking dinner? All those things really fall under the “work” heading in one way or another.
Are you seeking His glory in everything you do? As you go about your day job, whether it’s exciting or mundane, ask yourself this question, “How can I do this and glorify God?” You might be surprised at the answer and how it causes your faith, like Abraham’s, to grow strong. Now, I have to go glorify God and fold some laundry. (ct)
“Oh God we give glory to you all day long; and constantly praise Your Name.” Psalm 44:8