Click here to read I Chronicles 24-25 on BibleGateway.com
Not that long ago, it was the big rage to write books with titles that highlighted the differences between men and women; often with fairly lame attempts at humor. “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” “Men are Knights, Women are Queens,” “Men are like bacon, Women are like better looking bacon.” (yes, I made that last one up. sue me) One of the many incarnations of this theme is one called “Men are like waffles, women are like spaghetti.” The idea is that men tend to separate different aspects of their life into various “spheres,” while women tend to see interconnections between everything.
SEPARATE, YET…UMM…EQUAL?
This idea of spheres of influence is surprisingly controversial in our time. Not regarding men, which everyone recognized (which is why a man can see no connection between the 18 hours of golf and his wife’s exasperation), but in the public sector.
In our western world, we see distinct separation between various aspects of our life: church goes here, politics goes here, family goes here, sports goes here, etc etc.
ALL CONNECTED
However, the Bible does not see the world in the same way. This is particularly notable in the relationship between the state and religion. While many ancient cultures had a unity between the secular and religious, few cultures integrated them as thoroughly as the Israelites.
Look at I Chronicles 25:1. David is selecting clans for serving in the temple, particular for what we would call “worship” ministry; including singers and musicians. So who does he ask for advice? The commanders of the army.
Can you imagine this in our time? What if the pastor of your church called the local ROTC to help choose a worship leader? Or if the Pentagon choose the pastors for American churches?
In our mind, these are two totally different areas of life. The politico-military establishment has no place in the sacred; but in the Israelite mind, they were intimately connected. The soldiers fought the wars of the LORD, and the singer commemorated those wars (and sometimes led the troops).
EGGO-TACULAR
In God’s world, He doesn’t just want one square of our waffle, he wants the whole plate of spaghetti. We can’t put God in a little aspect of our life (which, let’s face it, we like to do so we can “control” just how much influence God has in our lives). God wants total and complete integration of our worship and the rest of our lives.
How would it change your approach to your work today, if you really believed that everything you did was an act of worship?