So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

 

When the Lord saved us, He rescued us out of the domain of Satan and brought us into His holy kingdom.  We are no longer slaves of Satan, he is no longer our master, we now have a new master, Jesus.  However, just because we are no longer in the world where Satan rules,  doesn’t mean he is still not at work around us.  He tries to lure us back through temptations and deceptions. When he is unable to lure into sin through temptations, he seeks to deceive us into living defeated, powerless, lukewarm Christian lives.  We have been saved and set free, we want to  live for the Lord and have victory over the Satan.  So we ask the question, how can a Christian get victory over Satan and live a life that is pleasing to God? 

While sanctification is a life-long process, it however, begins with a desire to be wholly devoted to God and shun the world.  Before we were saved, we were God’s enemies (Rom 5), now that we are saved, we have been adopted into His family.  The Holy Spirit has poured God’s love into our heart, we now desire to love Him with everything we have. Enabled by the Holy Spirit, we can love as the Bible calls us to in Deuteronomy 6:5 – You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  This means loving God with everything we have.  What we love in this way, we are devoted to and what we are devoted to, we worship.

 At the same time we are being commanded to love God devotedly, we are also commanded not to love the world. The world is the corrupt value system of all societies, which is characterized by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life, everything the Lord hates. 1 John 2:15-16 – Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

One of the reasons I believe some Christians fall into the trap of the devil and never seem to be able live the victorious Christian life is because they somehow believe they can be devoted to the worldly system and to God at the same time, they are trying to straddle the fence between two kingdoms. This is impossible. Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 – No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  

Complete devotion to God is the key to a victorious Christian life.  Complete devotion means every area of life must be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Everything we do, is done to His glory and as service to a Holy God. Colossians 3:23 – Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.The book of wisdom commands us to acknowledge Him in everything. –  Proverbs 3:6a – In all your ways acknowledge him. The scripture text at the top of the page from 1Corinthians 10:31 tells to do everything, even the mundane things like eating and drinking to the glory of God.

Being wholly devoted to God, acknowledging Him in everything, doing everything, even mundane things like eating and drinking to His glory is what it means to pursue holiness, it is what we are saved to do, it is how we are certain to live victorious in Christ. The pursuit of holiness by seeking to bring every area of our lives under the Lordship of Jesus is the essence of the Christian life.  When we develop the habit of lifting everything we do as worship to a holy God, we say we are living Coram Deo. 

 

To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.  To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze. – R.C. Sproul

 

To live Coram Deo, is to live in the awareness that everything we do or say is done right in the presence of God always. The late theologian Dr. R.C. Sproul explains it this way: “This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.  To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze.”

 The secret to a victorious Christian life is living Coram Deo. This means that the life of a believer knows nothing of a sacred / secular divide.  Everything in every area of the Christian’s life is sacred.  Every area is lived before the face of God. There is no secular / sacred vocation in the life of a believer, every job/vocation is for the glorify of God.  I know most people try to separate vocations into those who primarily work in Christian ministry verses everyone else, but the Bible speaks of no such thing.  While the qualifications for Church leadership is different from that of a lawyer or plumber or homemaker, the believer answers to God in every thing. Every area of life, be it marriage, raising kids, career, and even the education of our kids must all be lived and brought under the lordship of Christ. There is no divide, even the simplest everyday acts are done as service to God. 

Any attempt to divide our lives into compartments of sacred / secular is will lead to a defeated, confused, chaotic and contradictory life.  We will never be able to live a life pleasing to God.  Your “church life” cannot be different form your “work life” or your”play life” in terms of how you behave, talk and act.  For us to live victorious Christian lives, we must be single-minded in serving the Lord.  This means living Coram Deo – before the face of God, always in everything. The late bishop of Liverpool J.C Ryle said it best:  “Singleness of purpose is one great secret of spiritual prosperity.”

 

Soli Deo Gloria!