Continuing his "All of the Above" series, Jarrett Stevens, at http://www.722.org/, opens by talking about how we "categorize" and segment our lives. We live very compartmentalized lives. God doesn't desire to see us live our lives this way, so he wants to explore this with us. It occurred to Jarrett how much this happens on a global scale. Jan 1, 2008, Jarrett said he was watching a Christian show with some friends about all the things that happened in 2007. There was no form, sequence, explanation or end to what was being presented. It just went on and on and on. "It was weird. It made me feel like Christians are weird...Like this guy had puppets and he was making funny voices...then there were these kids who were acting out the words of a song...It was like a Pat Benatar video...then they rolled out this C or D list of celebrities who were Christians...We're just weird!! To be totally honest, I was embarassed!" Why do Christians build their own little culture in a world that needs them?!? It's amazing how quickly Christians have drawn this line in the sand where they say everything on this side of the line is good and everything on that side is bad. It's our own little suburb. "But I guess I do this in my own life, too...according to the things that are spiritual and the things that are not." We have Christian songs and we have "secular" songs. It's the lingo. We have jobs where we can be in Ministry and jobs where we aren't. Where did this thinking really come from? It came from a Platonic philosophy called "dualism". Dualism is really two worlds in one. Everything falls into two boxes. Some things fall into a spiritual realm and everything else falls into a physical realm. Christians have adopted this thinking. In an interesting display of labeled boxes, Jarrett pulls out things that Christians consider "spiritual" like church, worship, quiet times etc. But things that we don't consider "spritual" are play, money, work and relationships. As a result, our lives are scattered with multiple expectations, multiple prioritizations and multiple demands. We delve, almost randomly, in every area. But we're conflicted. How often do we wake up to go to work and EXPECT to experience God at work? How often do we spend time in relationships and expect to share God? Why, when we pull out the "Play" box does it exclude God? After living this way, we then wonder why we don't really know who we are and we wonder why God seems far around. The best we can expect, when living this way, is to be able to "manage". This is NOT the way God intended for you to live. He did not intend for us to be split or scattered. He wants us to be whole. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul says that whatever we do, do it for the glory of God. Let God, not only be a part of it, but let Him transform it!! Anything we do can be done in such a way to bring recognition to God. "I thought, when I was younger," says Jarrett, "that in order for things in my life to include God, I had to bring God into it." But what Jarrett found was faulty about his thinking was he reallized he had to bring everything he did TO GOD. Live out the complexity of our lives from God as the starting point. Coming from God's plan as the starting point, it gives us consistency. "I don't want to have inconsistencies in my values and my relationship with God." When we can define our lives according to the ways of Christ, we aren't force fitting God into things that are detrimental to us. We can be whole. We can be fulfilled. We can live lives with true Godly purpose.

1 Corinthians 10:31