Living Wholly for God: Escaping the Trap of Spiritual Seasonality

All of us have hobbies and pastimes. Some play an instrument, some a sport, and others enjoy cooking, woodworking, or creating art. My point is simply that most people, apart from their ‘9-5,’ have compartmentalized pieces that make their lives more whole. 

We are not mere robots who eat, work, sleep, and repeat, even though sometimes it may feel like that. We are complex creations by God who have many different interests and passions. The thing about these hobbies or pastimes is that they often change from season to season. When we are busy, they may shift to a more passive option, however, when light seasons arrive, they may rotate yet again to an active alternative. Our hobbies shift as our focuses and interests shift. They are fickle in this way. 

I hesitate to admit the many times I have been drawn to some new kind of endeavor for the down periods between workdays, only to fast-forward a few weeks and find I have already given it up or moved on to another. Hobbies are fun, interesting, often beneficial habits we pick up and more than often put back down after a short time. 

This leads me to a reality I think a lot of us can probably relate to. Our relationship with God can often be minimized into being much like one of these hobbies. We care about it, sure! But all too frequently our prioritization of it hinges on the season we find ourselves in. When we are coasting, we commit and when we are busy it falls to the wayside. Much like our hobbies... 

This however is not some kind of guilt trip! Instead, it is merely a call for all of us to step into something much better, a call for us to step into a real relationship with God, which is not a piece of our life, but instead the foundation of it. 

This idea is one that’s challenged me for a long time, and recently, it came to the forefront of my mind when I was reading a newsletter called The Daily Article written by Jim Denison. Within these writings, Denison brings to the reader’s attention current events around the globe and how believers in Christ can find hope amid them. 

In this issue, he was writing about persecution and troubles Christians around the world are faced with and endure. When looking at the American context, we of course, thankfully, do not have the imminent threat of direct persecution. Yet, Denison puts forward the idea that American Christians are under the threat of a different kind that puts our relationship with Jesus in a dangerous place. 

As he explains the dangers of self-reliance and materialism, he also puts forward the following idea: 

“I am convinced that self-reliance is the greatest temptation American Christians face. We live in a culture that prizes self-dependence and rewards the ‘self-made’ person. Our existentialist focus on self has driven many of the material successes that have made our nation so prosperous. But it also teaches us to separate the spiritual from the secular and make God a hobby.” 

This thought really made me take a step back. How easy it is to view God like any of our other hobbies! For example, sometimes I will look back at my time when I played competitive, organized sports, and I will think, man, I would love to get back to being that fit. So, I download a fitness app, ‘commit’ myself to a new routine for exercise after work and game on! A few weeks or days may pass and already I have fallen out of the routine, or it has at least weakened. 

I think this happens because ultimately, I like the idea of working out. I know it is good for my body and that I will have more energy and strength in the long run, however, I fail to keep up with the idea because other things come up. Work gets busier, family needs, the house needs work... fill in the blank. 

No matter how many times I try to brute force my way into a new lifestyle like this, the result is often the same.  

I believe this is why so many of us are consistently exhausted, burnt out, and discouraged at points along our walk with the Lord. We view our relationship as another task, another hobby which we need to input our attention into. I have Fridays for watching the NHL and Sunday mornings for church. I used to spend 5 minutes a day in the Word, so now let’s spend 10. I used to be a part of one Small Group, so let’s do two this fall, etc. 

We get overwhelmed by faith because of this ‘list’ we put in front of ourselves. It starts to feel like that hour-long workout regimen that is the last thing you have energy for after a long day. But believe it or not, I don’t think this sense we get of being overwhelmed comes from our relationship with God taking up too much time or bandwidth, but from us making it too small a part of our lives. This view of God being a hobby for us is what makes it broken because this is not the life with God we are called to.  

Instead of looking at our relationship with God as just another spoke on the wheel or another piece of the pie, what if we instead looked at our entire life as falling within the playing field of our connection with our Lord? In Colossians, the Apostle Paul encourages the recipients of his letter by calling for them to do all that they do for the Lord. 

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. – Colossians 3:23-24 

This perspective is one which we must hone. The ability and mindfulness to do all things for God does not occur overnight. However, as we gradually submit more and more of our life to God (our work, our friendships, our families, even the rest of our hobbies,) we see that we no longer have to be satisfied by those things that can be fleeting and underwhelming, but instead, they can all be steps towards a devotional life, instead of a devotional morning. 

Worship and relationship are not merely kindled in the times when we are within our church building walls or when we open the weathered spine of our Bible, it is found more deeply, more consistently, and more refreshingly, as we notice that all we do should be and can be for the sake of honoring our God. 

This is what life with God is meant to be: full, meaningful, lasting, and this is all the more possible when we notice God not as a hobby, but as our foundation. I leave you with this encouragement from Paul, that it is not you who completes the refining work of restoration within your own heart but God. Rest in this. 

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. – Philippians 2:12-13