In hard seasons, in mundane moments and everything in between, the Gospel needs to shape our responses, our attitude and our home.  Often we think of the Gospel as something that was important at that moment of salvation. Christ died for me, I’m forgiven…then the Christian life starts.

But the Christian life is the Gospel. It affects our work, our marriages, our parenthood, our attitudes, and responses to all that life throws at us. And that’s exactly what we are discussing today. Let’s dive in!

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What is the “goal” of the Christian life?

“For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” – Philippians 1:19-23

Living in light of the Gospel:

“It is our obligation, as people created and owned by God, to give him the honor and glory that is due to him, to live and speak and act and think in a way that recognizes and acknowledges his authority over us. We are made by him, owned by him, dependent on him, and therefore accountable to him.” – What is the Gospel? By Greg Gilbert

Finding Glory in the Mundane Moments

You see, I struggle sometimes with finding worth in the mundane. I struggle finding glory in the ordinary. I sometimes struggle knowing how the second load of dishes or sweeping the sidewalk is worth anything. 

Do you ever struggle with this? Do you ever struggle knowing how our work in the home matters to God? Both of these books this year have helped with that.

I feel like I’ve gone on a similar journey as the author has in Glory in the Ordinary. I love how she’s open about her struggle with this as well:

“Like all major changes, my early days as a stay-at-home mom rocked me to the core. I had gone from days filled with fruitful conversations to days filled with crying and blank stares from two needy babies. Over time I began to see that being home had inherent value, but what I couldn’t immediately see was how the work at home had value as well. It was not merely about staying home to take care of the children (which made sense to my exhausted brain); I had to learn there was value in the laundry and cleaning too.” – Glory in the Ordinary page 25

This is the impactful part, she goes on to say:

“What I’ve learned is that God is glorified in the mundane work as much as he is in the magnificent. In fact, it is in the mundane moments, the moments where we live each and every day, where we come to see the true greatness of God and his love for us.” – Glory in the Ordinary page 25

Life is lived out in these tiny moments. I may not always have the mental capacity to remember and realize that I am doing big, grand work, even when I’m scrubbing toilets, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Something that I love throughout her book is this concept of how our culture views work in the home versus how God does. Our culture views work as simply a means to an end. We work just enough to be able to afford leisure time. And we look down on those blue collar jobs or work that seem to have little worth, such as workingMcDonald’s.

We value big important jobs. We admire people who are in charge of large ministries who are making changes in the world. That’s not a bad thing to admire those people, but we tend to put all our value into these jobs or those people.

So we tend to think then, even if we don’t say it out loud, that our work doesn’t matter if we are not accomplishing something big.

And then we apply that to life in the home. When I’m caring for these five souls that God has entrusted to my care, it’s easier for me to see the worth. I can glimpse the Gospel-work that I am doing, even if I don’t always verbalize it or even remember it. But when I can take a step back, I can more easily see that the work I do with my kids, is big and important.

But scrubbing the toilets? Cleaning out the garbage can so it stops smelling? Pulling a red crayon out of the dryer which has now stained an entire load of laundry? How are these moments important when they don’t seem to accomplish anything big or important?

And Courtney makes an important point: we have to choose the middle of the road when it comes to the work in our home. Because on one hand we can completely devalue the work at home and on the other, we can make it an idol!

So the Gospel shapes our everyday responses. God calls us to glorify Him with our lives. And we have to deeply remember the grace given to us. We don’t deserve anything. This leads us to a few responses:

1. Thankfulness in all areas of our life
2. And a deep gratitude and willingness to extend grace to others in our life: our husbands, our kids, extended families and friends.
3. If we view ourselves through a lense of humility: it changes our responses. We turn from feeling like we deserve things, to being thankful for each and every good gift that God gives!

“As you feed hungry bellies, you are pointing to a God who makes sure even the sparrows get their food (Matthew 6:26-27). As you attend parent/teacher conferences, dress a sick relative, or buy new clothes for growing kids, you are pointing to a God who cares so much for his creation that he even clothes the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:28-30). Every meal made with love, every fork that has been cleaned to protect against spreading illness, every toilet wiped clean helps shift your family’s gaze toward the God who keeps everything together and is making all things new (Rev. 21:5). With your work you are telling your family that we serve a God who is present, who is among us.” – Glory in the Ordinary page 75

Links & Resources:

• Book recommendation: What is the Gospel? By Greg Gilbert
• And free resources: The Centrality of the Gospel by Tim Keller: http://www.newcityindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/centrality-of-gospel.-keller.pdf
• Book Recommendation: Glory in the Ordinary
• Book recommendation: Glimpses of Grace
• Our sponsor: Need help with your homeschooling? Check out HomeschoolMagnet.com
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Grab your ticket to this year’s conference!

Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It’s going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.