Glorifying God
(and how to do so throughout your every day)
2023/03/07
Throughout my lifetime, I have often felt a sense of unease pervading my every day experiences, seemingly as a result of an awareness of some kind of unproductivity. Almost every time I have experienced it in the past, I have found something new to blame it on: not enough reading, not enough writing, not enough drawing, not enough socialising, not enough exercise, too much junk food, sensory overload, burnout, a lack of sleep, and so on.
In the end, however, I have found that even whenever I have worked on all of these things, a deep-rooted sense of unfulfilment has still remained — a sense that is much, much stronger on days other than the Sabbath.
Following my conversion to Christianity, I began finding the Sabbath to be a day permeated not by a sense of unfulfilment, but rather by a great sense of accomplishment and genuine joy and appreciation. The difference? I was actively making time to devote to my God, to glorify Him through my actions and my treatment of others, and through this I found a truth that resonated with me: time that is devoted to God is never time wasted.
The devotion of time and effort to the pursuit of something higher, now experienced through my Christian faith, is not something that I have ever found unfulfilling. As C.S. Lewis once eloquently stated: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
In the past, I spent a great deal of time worrying about my productivity in relation to worldly things, and not those which are godly, and as a result, only found myself feeling more hollow.
Much as with reading every day, people often respond to the idea of attempting to focus more on God as an insurmountable task. They claim to be too busy with other preoccupations, such as work, personal relationships or education, or they claim not to have the drive, amongst other things.
As I say to the people I encounter who claim not to have any time to read, I will say the same for this: you can make time, and if you believe in and care for a God who you think has benevolently granted you the time that you do have on this Earth, and also the free will to choose what you do with it, then the very least that you could do is choose to tithe some of it back to Him in return.
It is understandable that life may get in the way, and it certainly often does, but I have found that the following habits have proven helpful in feeling that I am connecting with God throughout the whole week, and not just on the Sabbath, despite my daily preoccupations:
- morning prayer, which does not need to be elaborate or lengthy, but is always a pleasant way to start the day;
- evening prayer, which is a wonderful time to express gratitude for the day, and is rather easy to get into a habit of doing straight before bed;
- saying grace, even though it was not something that I was ever raised to do;
- silent meditation, which can be challenging for me, but I feel I have greatly benefited from;
- listening to worship music with poignant lyrics, especially whenever cooking or working out;
- continuing in my abstinence from practices that I view as sinful, removed from God's design and therefore unrighteous, such as the viewing of pornography;
- setting aside time to read the Bible, and progressing in my studies in small, manageable chunks;
- volunteering within my local community and church;
- attending church events such as Youth Fellowship and various prayer meetings throughout the week, and not just on the Sabbath;
- exercising and nourishing myself with wholesome food in an attempt to preserve the wellbeing of my body;
- thoughtfully moderating my intake of entertainment that I feel is 'cheap' and easy, and lacking in value;
- exercising outdoors, petting animals or birdwatching in order to try to appreciate and find beauty in nature and God's various creations;
- reading from Christian writers that I admire, such as C.S. Lewis;
- consuming Christian media, such as documentaries or inspired films;
- and, most of all, attempting to reflect the characteristics that are portrayed in the Bible as virtuous and righteous, and which are reflected in the character of Jesus, such as: humility, patience, kindness, wisdom, courage, integrity, perseverence, hope, faith, temperance, and most of all, love.
A lifetime spent walking with God is just that — a lifetime: not a collection of fitting Sabbath days, nor a collection of the times you 'felt like it' and were willing to deign to bother. Whilst a Christian will inevitably meander at times, or 'stray from the shepherd', they ought not to aim only to act like one whenever it is convenient for them.
