Making Every Moment Delightfully Holy
Lately I've been chewing on the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:4-5. He writes to Timothy that our good God created a good world, and has placed us in this world to enjoy the creation with a thankful heart. And he says creation is made holy “by the word of God and prayer.” It’s this last phrase that I’ve been chewing on. What he seems to be saying is that through the word and prayer the enjoyment of ordinary things seems to be consecrated by God.
Now in this section of his letter he is speaking specifically about the gift of marriage and the gift of food. He is refuting the false teaching that it is more godly for a person to reject marriage and reject certain foods. It is false godliness because God made marriage and food to be enjoyed. There is a principle here that applies to us. It seems that this does not just apply to marriage and food. Through the practice of word and prayer every moment is made holy.
What does word and prayer mean? I believe what Paul is getting at is this: Bring your personal relationship with Christ into everything you do. As a Christian the Holy Ghost lives inside you. You are a priest as God’s word says. You have the power of the living God residing in you and working through you. And as a priest you have the ability to bring the presence of Christ into all of life. Not that it’s your ability. The Spirit is not some impersonal force you wield like a jedi. No, the Spirit is God’s personal presence in your life. He’s present with you under his own volition. He’s choosing to be with you. And because he is with you he is able to make every moment holy as he is holy.
God spoke this reality to Moses a long time ago on Mt Sinai. God told the community he had just saved that he had saved them for a purpose. That purpose was to be God’s possession among all the people of the earth, to be a Kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Ex 19:6).
This is a really powerful identity. And we know as New Testament believers we have this same identity because Peter told us we do (1 Pt 2:5,9). This is powerful because it means the separation between the spiritual realm and the physical realm is actually a lot thinner than you might think. Being a priest means that every ordinary physical moment in your life as a Christian is enchanted with spiritual significance.
The old saints used to talk about thin places. A thin place described a moment in life when the barrier between the spiritual realm and the physical realm seemed thin. A thin place is wherever the Spirit of God seems extra present and palpable. The gathering of the local church on the Lord’s Day is a thin place. Like Peter says in chapter 2, we are like little houses of God’s Spirit brought together and made into a big house of God’s Spirit. When we intentionally worship Christ together he promises to make his presence known to us.
But Sunday mornings are not the only times we experience and taste in heaven come to earth. Paul told Timothy that the enjoyment of creation in general can be consecrated by the presence of God. Whether in eating a meal or enjoying the fruits of marriage we can experience those moments as filled with the presence of Christ.
I think this all matters and builds a delightful theology of joy. If it is possible to bring the presence of Christ into all of life then it is possible to experience the joy of Christ in all of life. Because holiness enables us to be in the presence of God, and as the Psalmist says, in the presence of God is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11).
What this means practically is that in Christ every single thing we do in our life can be done with delight. Think of an easy example like the supper table. Applying the word of God and prayer to the supper table makes all the people at the table aware of the presence of Christ. And when we are drawn into the presence of Christ we experience joy. But it is not joy divorced from the physical experience. What I mean is this: You hold up a nice glass of wine and say thank you God for making grapes and making humans with the skill to produce wine from those grapes. And thank you that I have a job that enables me to buy this wine. You know this because the Word tells you this. And what you're doing in this prayer is becoming aware that Christ has made your enjoyment possible, which glorifies God, and heightens the pleasure of the experience.
Apply this to all places in your life you wouldn’t expect the word of God and prayer to be applied. Maybe you wouldn’t think to make the marriage bed holy. But your sex life as a married couple is a perfect place for you to become God aware. You know from the first few chapters of Genesis that God made you male and female. He made you with the capacity for sexual fulfillment. And he made covenant of marriage to be the bedrock relationship where a healthy sex life can flourish. This is all a gift of God. So pray before sex and ask God to make that moment holy. Be grateful for his good gifts.
What this all points to is the fact that all of life can be wonderfully enchanted by a vibrant spiritual life with God. The book Every Moment Holy is a great tool to help you with this. It is a book of liturgies, which are simply beautifully crafted prayers that focus on different aspects of everyday life. By using a tool like this book you can bring the word of God and prayer into every situation, and begin to make it holy. And when you make every moment holy you will experience the pleasure of God’s presence.