Can Normalcy Glorify God?

We often think of glorifying God as something confined to spiritual disciplines - prayer, Bible study, corporate worship, and the like. Certainly, these practices are vital means of honoring and exalting our Creator. But what about the rest of life? Those seemingly mundane daily activities like work, chores, hobbies, spending time with family, the things we do in our bodily existence - can they too bring glory to God?

The answer may surprise you. What could be more spiritual than you, created by the Creator, doing what you were created to do? The Bible reveals that the physical world isn't just scenery for spiritual realities. It matters deeply to God. In fact, there are at least three profound ways Scripture tells us the created world holds eternal significance.

God Called His Creation Good and Never Took It Back

When God fashioned the universe, He looked over all He had made and called it "very good" (Genesis 1:31). The physical world didn't arise by chance but by the intentional craftsmanship of an infinitely wise Designer. And it's not just good in a pragmatic sense of functioning properly. The creation bears God's stamp of moral approval and delight. It radiates His beauty, creativity, and loving artisanship. 

Scriptures give no hint that God later rescinded this wholehearted affirmation of the material world. Yes, sin marred creation. But that only makes the world's goodness harder to see at times, not nullifying its goodness altogether. Like a stained masterpiece canvas, creation bears the masterful brush strokes of its Maker, despite grime and blemishes. One day it will be finally restored (Romans 8:21). Our embodied lives in the here and now already offer a taste of the greater cosmic redemption to come.

God Was Joined to Creation in the Incarnation

God didn't just approve of the physical world from a distance but astonishingly entered into it. In the incarnation, the second person of the Godhead took on human flesh and "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Jesus, who existed eternally as the spiritual Son of God, made Himself at home in the material world He had created. He experienced all the physical realities we do - exhaustion, hunger, thirst - even submitting to death on the cross.

Even now, the resurrected Jesus Christ stands physically as a human man, with flesh and bones, at the right hand of the throne of God.

If the physical creation was so unimportant, so beneath God's concern, why would He unite Himself to it so intimately? Christ's incarnation elevates our embodied existence. It sanctifies the material stuff of life. As those formed in God's image and indwelt by His Spirit, our mundane routines and rhythms can reflect His presence in our midst. Even everyday acts like eating and drinking can take on spiritual dimensions as we receive them with gratitude and thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Creation Is Destined for Resurrection

Physical life doesn't end with this fallen world's eventual passing. Scripture promises that after removing the damaging effects of sin, God will usher in "new heavens and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). Our resurrected bodies will inhabit a redeemed material universe freed from corruption and decay. We'll live embodied, physical lives but in unimaginable intimacy with God's unclouded glory.

If the physical world was mere window dressing, devoid of lasting purpose, why would God be so invested in its renewal? The doctrine of resurrection affirms that our bodies and all of material existence share in the redemptive climax of God's grand story. Our ordinary earthly lives foreshadow the extraordinary, and very physical, reality to come.

Bought With a Price

In the classic movie Chariots of Fire, the Olympic champion Eric Liddell eloquently captured this outlook: "When I run, I feel God's pleasure." Eric sensed God's delight when he as a creation of God used the athleticism God gifted him with according to His design. This glorified God.

We may think, "Yes, God is pleased with me when I run in a spiritual sense, through the things I do with my mind and heart, but surely not with my body." But embracing the biblical vision demolishes that dichotomy. God is pleased and glorified when we as physical creatures do physically what He designed us to do.

“For you were bought at a price,” wrote Paul in 1 Corinthians 20. “Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (NKJV).

It was not only your spirit that was redeemed by Jesus on the cross. It was your body as well.

God radically affirms ordinary, earthly life through the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus. What could seem more "mundane" than God becoming a chemical complexity of tissue and synapses? More commonplace than Christ eating, drinking, and resting like any human?

Glorify God in Your Body

So in that light, we can find spiritual significance in the ordinary routines and chores that make up our daily lives. Not because some hidden, transcendent reality looms behind them, but simply because these are what God created us to do. As beings fashioned by God to be fully human, glorifying Him means rejoicing in and responsibly pursuing the created purposes He's wisely built into our lives.

For parents, that means faithfully caring for children - feeding, changing diapers, keeping up with the sleepless nights and messy homes. Making a house into a loving, beautiful home. Providing your family's daily needs. These are spiritual acts because they align with the sacred callings God designed parenthood to encompass. They cultivate the maturity and sacrifice that increasingly reflect Christ's image in us. 

For churchgoers, it incorporates caring for the sick and needy among the congregation. Ensuring the church facilities remain clean and welcoming for enriching worship together. Joining your unique voice to sing hymns and spiritual songs. We glorify God by using our hands, voices, time, and efforts to edify the body of Christ.

For the homeowner or landowner, tending gardens, mowing lawns, maintaining property, and responsibly managing resources all take on spiritual significance. Why? Because we're called to be good stewards of the small fraction of God's good creation entrusted to us. As we care for the land and cultivate beauty and comfort for ourselves and others, we reflect God's original mandate to humanity to "subdue" and "have dominion" over the earth with wise care.

We have a million opportunities each day to display God's grace and reflect His character through our bodies, activities, work, play, and worship. When we embrace this vision and live it faithfully, we become conduits of God's restorative purposes for a dying world. We affirm the material creation's God-designed goodness and offer glimpses of its coming renewal in Christ.

The next time you feel overwhelmed by diapers or deadlines, caught up in chores or congested traffic, remember - this is where you're meant to be. Each moment holds spiritual potential as a living sacrifice to the God who made all things, sustains all things, and will one day renew all things in His magnificent creation.