Separation of church and...

Separation of church and State is an important “hot” topic which I am not going to address right now!  Why?  Because I think that there is an even more critical “separation” that needs to be discussed.  And that is, the separation of Church and Self. 

Today, I had an interesting conversation about Halloween with a co-worker.  She was talking about what kind of candy she should give out at Halloween this year.  After a few minutes of discussion, she eventually proclaimed, “Well, whatever it is at least I won’t be like one of those people who wraps literature around the candy they give out.”  I asked her to explain and she replied, “You know, they wrap religious literature around the candy bars.”  I countered, “Well, Halloween is not a day universally celebrated by Christians, so it makes sense they would try to inform people.”  She then said, “Yeah but…the kids just want candy and this isn’t the right time to be doing that.” An interesting comment she made,”not the right time.”  This implies there is a right and a wrong time to express your faith.  This is what I mean by the “Separation of Church and Self.”  Keeping your church, faith separated from the rest of your life. 

Unfortunately, due to work responsibilities we weren’t able to continue our conversation.  I’m guessing that if we had, she would have expanded that she believes that religious topics should be discussed only in church and perhaps only on a Sunday.  And based on how offended some people respond lately when someone mentions a religious belief during any other time of the week than Sunday morning, I think that she's expressing a fairly popular opinion.  “Keep your religion at church” or perhaps you’ve heard “keep your religion out of government”, or even “keep your religion out of schools.”  I can understand the concern.  I mean, I wouldn’t want our government, one that tends to fail at most things to get their hands around trying to manage a Federal religion!  But does this mean that we can only be faithful during church hours?   

I don't think practicing your religion means practicing it during specific times of the week.  A genuine Christ follower doesn’t have an on/off switch when it comes to living out their faith.  “Oh, it’s Christmas morning, better head to church to get my religious fix to cover me for the next year.”  No, that’s not it at all!  I just can’t picture God being happy to see His people ignoring Him all week long and then heading to church on Sunday “just to put their time in”.  He wants an ongoing relationship with each and every person on Earth through Christ Jesus.  Scripture is clear on this.  He doesn’t want you (or others) to put limits on your relationship with Him.  Scripture is clear on this too!  He wants to part the center of every aspect of your life.

Luke 10:27 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”

Luke 10:27 doesn’t say, Love the Lord your God on Sunday morning and with a portion of your soul and with a little strength and part of your mind.

I’ll admit that there was a time in my life that I didn’t understand why my religious beliefs needed to be part of my life other than the occasional Sunday morning.  I thought you just needed to believe that there is a God and that Jesus was a man who was God’s son and then I was all set on my pathway to heaven.  But there’s a difference between believing that there IS a God and believing IN God.  Check out James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.” 

A person can believe in the existence of God, but it takes a heart full of faith, love, submission and worship to live a life where you believe IN God and His plan of salvation and grace.  Once you get there, that will be the point where you can no longer understand the Separation of Church and Self.  It no longer makes sense.  How can your heart be so filled with love for the Lord, that at any point during your day or night that you can separate this out?  Just turn it off.  It’s not possible.  In fact, if you remove any portion of your love for God love out of your heart, you end up making room for something else.  Likely, it will be something that is the opposite of love, as in hate, fear, desire, and sin.  

Personally, I believe that there is no way you can discuss the Separation of Church and State until you no longer have Separation of Church and Self.   When you are no longer separating yourself from your faith, when you are truly living it 24/7 and when your entire heart belongs to God, to His glory…then everything else will fall in line.  Answers to those “hot topics” become crystal clear.  All you need to do is stop separating God out of your everyday life.  He has the answers.  He doesn’t want to just know you and guide you and have you love Him on Sunday.  He desires that each and every day!

1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  and that is what we are!