Daily Encouragement: Day 325

Adapted from Handbook to Spiritual Growth

THE HEART’S FOCUS

The disparity between 11:00 on Sunday morning and 11:00 on Monday morning can be enormous. A connection needs to be made between these two times, between faith and living. The spiritual life is not limited to personal devotions, spiritual exercises, church activities, and Bible studies. It is nourished by these, but it should be lived out and expressed in the ordinary and in the everyday.

How we spend our money or put together a business deal is as much a matter of the spiritual life as how we say our prayers. It is not the nature of our work but the focus of our heart that matters in God’s economy. As Walt Henrichsen puts it, the secular becomes spiritual when the focus of one’s heart is the eternal. What appears to be a secular job, whether it is in a factory or in a law firm, becomes a spiritual pursuit if the focus of the worker’s heart is on God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33).