When the distinction between ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ is understood as unreal, and when implications of God’s ownership of everything in creation are fully calculated, then any task is a part of divine service.
Washing the dishes or managing a global corporation, studying algebra or pulling weeds from a garden, all these activities are, and can be conceptualized as, divine service.
The Western world has generally thought piety consists above all in sacred works, in works which make a display of religiosity and holiness of an external sort.
To the contrary, Kolb informs us, people who follow Jesus
have exercised their piety in child care and making good shoes, in helping fellow workers and neighbors meet crises and endure hardships, in celebrating births and weddings.
‘Good works’ might be a much broader category than some traditions allow. Attending a party could in fact be an act of personal devotion to Jesus.
Properly construed, one’s entire life and all the activities of daily living could, and should, be acts of service to God. Shopping for groceries and washing clothes, playing a game of golf or balancing one’s stock market portfolio are acts of stewardship.
If the earth and everything in it (Psalm 24:1) are God’s property, than every action we take is an interaction with God’s property. God has assigned the stewardship of His property to us (Genesis 1:28).
We are continually interfacing with God’s world, which makes every act a potential act of worship. Our challenge to move from ‘potential’ to ‘actual’ and see every moment of our lives as a moment of piety and devotion.
