Secular or sacred?

If you’ve been saved by Jesus, you’ve been set apart for his use, making you sacred. There is no more secular. That’s truth.

This is one of my very favorite books on the sufficiency of Christ and the beauty of grace, for so many reasons. 52 perhaps?

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Excerpt from 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday

Lie #21 – There are secular and sacred things in life

What comes to mind when you hear the word sacred?

Many people would immediately think of church buildings, Bibles, clergyman, and everything else that could be considered religious. For them, the word secular encompasses everything else in life, which would basically be 95 percent of how people spend their lives and energy.

This is how this mind-set operates: Church life is sacred, but work life is secular. Our prayer life is sacred, but our entertainment choices are secular. On and on the list could go. It’s an artificial distinction we make, but it’s not true. And neither is it healthy.

We don’t have two lives—a “spiritual” life here and a “regular” life there.

Our life in Christ is one unified lifestyle, and it is who we are wherever we are. It may surprise you to know that you don’t move in and out of secular and sacred arenas in your lifestyle. It’s all sacred.

. . . Remember, we are in Him, and that is always true. Jesus Christ continually engulfs your life just like the air that sustains you physically.

Where you are, He is. When you go to church, He’s in you. When you go to work, He’s in you. Even if you were to go to a place not compatible with the righteous nature you have in Him, He would still be in you.

. . . Because you’re in Christ, everything about your life is sacred. Our role as believers is to allow “Christ in us” to move into every sphere of our lives, bringing His influence to homes, families, businesses, governments—even churches.

You don’t live in a defensive mode. You have every reason to invade this world and know with confidence that the very gates of hell cannot prevail against the Christ who is in you.

– Steve McVey

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My book review of 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday

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12 thoughts on “Secular or sacred?

  1. Dianna

    Are you saving the BEST for LAST, my friend? The further into the month we go the more books I find myself adding to the Wish List….AND the easier it gets to make decisions. This one will definitely be one that I actually do purchase at the end of the month. Thanks so much, Lisa, for sharing these books with us.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      My choices aren’t in any particular order, Dianna, so I’m glad you’re continuing to enjoy them as they come! 🙂 This book is definitely one of my favorites though (I find myself saying that a lot, ha).

  2. Hutch

    It’s interesting to me how I’m led to places where there is something that I need to read. I clicked over from your comment on Joseph Pote’s site and bam… something that speaks to a current question that I have.

    For me this is about identity (who I think I am vs. who He designed me to be) and am I living it out correctly.

    I need to read this book.. Thanks for sharing this.

    -Blessings

    1. Lisa notes...

      I love that God works that way, leading us to what we need, when we need it. Glad that the words here helped you today, Hutch.

      Yes, this is exactly about identity–who we really are, not who we think we are. And who we are is who HE says we are.

      This is an awesome book. I read it on my own about a year ago, then did it as a book club with the ladies in my family this past summer and loved the truths in it all over again. It’s very centered on Christ being the one who’s finished the work on our behalf. We simply respond to his grace.

  3. Rick

    Read this, clicked there – waiting for my copy now – these are things I’ve believed for years in the sense that we’ve been mainlining lies disguised by the fact they seem like there is truth in them. Thanks, Lisa! 🙂

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I’m glad you’re going to read this book too, Rick. I hope you like it even half as much as I did. It made me think through quite a few things I’d been believing.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      So glad you tied in the DC Talk song. Love that one. We sometimes forget that unbelievers do pay attention to whether or not we’re walking our talk. And that includes seeing if we’re accepting God’s GRACE to save us instead of depending on our own self-efforts.

  4. Mia

    Dear Lisa
    A.W. Tozer said in his little book, In Pursuit Of God, that when we offer everything we do to our Pappa as a gift of love asking Him for grace to do it for His glory, the whole world becomes a sanctuary where everything we do, apart from sin, becomes a sacred act!
    Blessings XX
    Mia

  5. beverley

    I have been taught the Trinity differently than most church teach. I see them has three separate beings, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ having a purified exalted body of flesh and blood and the Holy Ghost being a Spirit so that it can dwell in us.
    I agree that all things are spiritual and therefore so are our lives (can you hear the but) but the Holy Ghost will only stay with us if we stay away from places and things that pollute our minds and our bodies with the worldly. I am sure if i were to go out and party in some of the less salubrious places in the city the Holy Ghost will try and persuade me not to go but then would leave me the minute i walk through the door of such an establishment until i came again. However if we are with the low in body, if we bend to help the needy, the forgotten then the Spirit is right there with us. I hope that makes sense.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Yes, I heard the “but” coming. 🙂 That’s not what I’ve been taught, but I think there’s still so much we haven’t figured out yet about the Trinity so it’s good to listen to each other. I appreciate you sharing your viewpoint.

      I know that we do agree on the desire to live our lives in a way that honors God in all we do–and I like how you phrased this: “if we are with the low in body, if we bend to help the needy, the forgotten, then the Spirit is right there with us.”

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