The Church: Compartmentalized - From Sand to Stone

We’re currently in the middle of looking at cabinets and vanities for our house to get things a little more put away and organized looking. While we all have varying degrees of keeping spaces organized, I think most people would agree that they like their things and life organized. It shouldn’t be too surprising that we want beyond our physical spaces to be organized, we just want our life organized. This means we want our Christianity organized, so we begin to compartmentalize.

We keep our religion tucked away into certain areas of our life or to one day a week. While I hear a lot of jokes about the CEOs of Christians (Christmas Easter Only’s); a lot of us run the risk of being Sunday Only Christians. We drive up (or now turn on our computer), find out favorite seat, listen the sermon, critique it in the car ride home, and then move on to the next thing in life.

One reason to this, I believe, is that churches themselves have started in instill this culture. The heavy focus on Sunday sermons and getting people into a service can start to overtake any effort to help congregants connect and put their faith into actions outside of Sundays. We also have our own blame to take, from lack of being in the Word to being overwhelmed with our schedule, we often just don’t take the time to think about God, listen the Spirit, and apply the Word to our every day living.

Our faith was never mean to be put in our neat and tidy Sunday drawer. Our faith needs to be like that laundry pile that’s exploding all over the bedroom floor. Our faith needs to be those Legos your kids threw all over the floor and you can’t forget about because you keep stepping on them.

For Colossians 3:17 tells us:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians
Colossians 3:17

And in Ephesians 1:22-23 we read

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1:22-23

All things have been put under God. Everything we do is in the name of our God. Generally, you can’t use absolutes, but here we can. There should be no part of our living that isn’t influenced by being a follower of Christ. There’s no compartmentalizing; no following the world when it’s easier; no ignoring Scripture that makes you uncomfortable; no moments when we should not be acting like the new Spirit filled creations we are.

We need to constantly be assessing ourselves to ask: have I let God transform me in this area of my life? Do I let Him reign over my childrearing, work, friendships, family, hobbies, etc? Am I great at exemplifying the fruits of the Spirit in some parts of life and not others? Do I spend regular time with God? Do I let Him inform my decision making or pray for wisdom before making decisions?

It can feel hard to live as a follower of Christ in word and deed, in everything we do, all day every day. That’s why God gave us the Church. You don’t have to grow alone, engage with fellow Christians on a regular basis and build each other up! By gathering with fellow Christians (could be a church group, a friend, mentor, etc) regularly, we receive the encouragement and edification to pursue continual Godly living in all areas of our lives.

^“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts”
Acts 2:46

Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:25

If you’re trying to take steps to leave compartmentalized Christianity because you recognize the God has authority over all areas of your life, then you might wonder – how? Here’s 5 ideas of how you can start seriously shifting from keeping your faith in the draw labeled Sunday to something that influences every part of your life.