We Need A New Routine! …Hello Hump Day readers. What is your routine each day? Do you change it up or just keep doing the same thing? This devotion is about how your daily routine works for you or doesn’t work…and how can we find a routine that uplifts us? Let’s start with The Pew Research Center who have shared about America’s routines. Every 5 years they find what routines people are doing but get this: “A lot hasn’t changed and it is more stagnant for people who just stay on their couch!! The research says that you may be surprised to know that throughout his or her lifetime, the average American does this…  (It will surprise you, believe me!)

  • Spends 3 years in business meetings
  • Spends 13 years watching TV
  • Consumes 109,354 pounds of food
  • Makes 1,811 trips to McDonalds
  • Spends $6,881 in vending machines
  • Eats 35,138 cookies and 1,483 pounds of candy
  • Catches 304 colds
  • Spends 24 years sleeping

When I read these “average American lives” it shocked me to see those kinds of numbers! Here’s a question to think on: “How many Christians don’t realize that even in the seemingly “mundane” aspects of their lives—like eating or sleeping, God can be honored. In fact, as you see in today’s verse, you can glorify God in whatever you do and wherever you are!

In 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 [MSG], the Apostle Paul said to the people in his day: “So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you …. eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.”

N.T. Wright is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and an Anglican Bishop. For many years he has worked with Christian’s routines, here’s a few: 1) Routine as Kingdom Building: “What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future.”  2) The Rhythm of Daily Worship: Wright argues that our routines should naturally lead to adoring God, noting that “True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.”

You might not think about this but, it’s really easy to slip into the mind-set of “sacred” versus “secular” thinking that ‘I can really only glorify God when I’m reading my Bible or singing to God in church.’ But in reality, God doesn’t just want an hour on Sunday—God wants all of you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week—after all, you are God’s child, God loves to be with you!

In closing, whatever your daily routine has you doing—glorify God. If you’re having lunch, use it as a time to thank God for the blessings of food. If you’re meeting with friends, show them the love of Christ in how you talk and act. When you do that, you’ll start to understand what it really means to glorify God with your life and find a daily routine that God has for you…it’s amazing indeed! AMEN.