1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” is such a wonderful challenge to us as followers of Christ.

Unfortunately, I’ve often heard these verses misappropriated as a carte blanche for someone to do anything they want. “As long as I do it to the glory of God, I can do whatever I want.” Far from it. At times, doing something to the “glory of God” means not doing it.

That aside, I find it really exciting to ask what it means to do each thing I do to the glory of God…

What does it mean to eat to the glory of God? Perhaps, as John Wesley argued, not meat, since it is resource intense? Perhaps it means not over-eating (or under-eating for that matter)? Perhaps it means buying local?

What does it mean to work to the glory of God?

What does it mean to shop to the glory of God?

What does it mean to drive to the glory of God?

What does it mean to shower to the glory of God?

What does it mean to vote to the glory of God?

What does it mean to watch TV to the glory of God?

While these questions may seam simple to begin with, they are in fact quite difficult to answer. They even might vary from season of life to season of life. Praise God we have a lifetime to try to understand them and grace to fail.

I’m sitting at the Boston Rescue Mission with my friend Jen. It is a wonderful morning. Last night we went to an evening service with some of the workers and residence. During the service (and this was not related to what was being said and this is not a new idea), it occurred to me “What Would Jesus Do?” The answer is simultaneously simple and immensely difficult, John 5:19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Put even more straightforwardly, it is to obey our love and grace showering Father. We are not called to simply emulate the life of Christ (though He provides many amazing examples for us), but rather to, like Him, listen to the Holy Spirit and obey the Father. It’s less of a question of “What Would Jesus Do?” and more of a question of what the Dad who loves us has shown and said for us to do.

Often the Bible is seen as a rule set. This view of the Bible is hugely problematic. Why? If nothing else, because it eliminates the need for a personal relationship with God. That is, if all I have to do is read and obey, I no longer need to seek God’s guidance and revelation.

Instead, I have been thinking about the story of the Bible in different terms. The Bible provides a default rule set for our lives and we should seek to obey. However, at times He calls us out of this default. I would site a few examples:

• Peace is a Biblical directive, however God calls David to war (interestingly, David is not allowed to build the temple because of the blood on his hands route from this obedience 1 Chronicles 22:7-9).
• The Bible commands us not to sacrifice our children, yet He calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
• The Bible forbids us to marry whores, yet He commands the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute.
• The new testament indicates that only men should be in leadership, yet He calls Deborah to lead Israel.

Any time we seek to read the Bible simply as a rulebook, we deny the working of the Holy Spirit and make a book an idol above God. If Israel had enforced the rule that women were never allowed in leadership, then they would have disobeyed God by not allowing Deborah to lead. That is we must acknowledge the fact that God may call us out of the Biblical framework (certainly not to something against His character) and that we must seek him out in all things.

Of course, it must be acknowledged that it is unusual for God to call us out of Biblical rule-set and thus if we believe that God is calling us out of the default (note: silence is a call to the default), we must take great care to ensure that we are hearing the Holy Spirit and not false spirits. A couple of questions useful in this endeavor are:

• Does the calling align with the character of God? Can you undertake it righteously?
• Are your trusted advisors who you are in community with confirming that this is what the Holy Spirit is saying?

If the answers to either of these is no, then there are problems. There are a few possibilities:

• A false spirit is confusing you.
• It is not yet time for the specific calling you are hearing.
• You are seeking to do it on your terms.

I would like to take a moment to address the latter (most because I like this story and feel it teaches a great lesson):

My friend’s Dad Stew tells a wonderful story that illustrates this point. He was in Africa preparing to speak to a congregation. The Pastor was standing behind the most ornate pulpit he’d ever seen. He hears the Holy Spirit tell him, “when you step up to speak, speak from there (a location down in front of the platform).” The Pastor proceeds to usher Stew into the pulpit. What should he do? If he turns around and leaves the pulpit it is culturally parallel to slapping his host in the face in front of his flock and conflicts with loving his brother. If he insists upon staying in the pulpit, he fails to obey the Holy Spirit. What would you do?

My tendency would have been to simply obey the Holy Spirit. I would be wrong however. Stew said to the Holy Spirit, “these two things are in conflict, please provide a way for me to obey you and to love my brother well” and he stepped into the middle of the pulpit. Before he could get a full sentence out of his mouth, someone called up to him, “they can’t hear you in the back, would you step down to here (pointing to the exact spot the Holy Spirit said) and speak.

I often dismiss or disobey the Holy Spirit because of my attempts to do things my way.

The alternative to this view is that the Bible speaks general revelation and provides an unalterable framework for our lives. We must rely upon God for the specific articulation of this framework in our lives, but he never calls us outside of the rules of the Bible. For example, we are all called to missions however God must guide us specifically where. This has historically been my view, however, it doesn’t square with the Biblical storyline of God calling people out of the default.

Perhaps, the best is a merger of these two views, that the Bible provides a default framework for His people, God tells us how to specifically articulate this framework and sometimes calls us outside this framework. Our ultimate responsibility is obedience to the Holy Spirit not to elders, not to ourselves, not to a book, even if the book is written by God.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments?