The Compartmentalizing of God

“Christ, who is our life…” —Colossians 3:4

People speak of how they can compartmentalize their life. They are referring to the ability to divide various aspects of their life into sections or categories to prevent one part from affecting any of the other parts of their life. For example, they don’t allow what happens at work to affect their time with their family.

I suspect there are those who do the same with God.  They don’t allow God to interfere with all the aspects of their lives. God is not the whole of their life, but only a part of their life, like a segment of an orange.

People divide their life like rooms in a house. They have a play room… eating room… dressing room… and a religious room.  God is confined to “stay in His room” until He is told He can to come out.

For many, God is merely an item on their “things-to-do” list, like going to the grocery story; read my Bible; mow the lawn; and go to church next Sunday (if nothing else interferes).

C.S. Lewis spoke of people who have a “tame God” that they can switch on or switch off whenever they want. This was not the God the Apostle Paul served. Paul testified, “For me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21). Paul’s life could be boiled down to one word—Christ (Col. 3:4).

We are exhorted whether “ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Don’t relegate Christ to be just one segment of your life, but may He have preeminence over your whole life (Col. 1:18).