Does God care how I spend my free time?
"So whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Does God care if I read, watch Netflix, garden, take walks, listen to music or play golf? In other words, does God care how I spend my time?
Another way to think about it is: is there a physical or secular part of life that is separate from our spiritual life?
CS Lewis in his book Beyond Personality (later merged with The Case for Christianity and Christian Behavior to form the classic Mere Christianity), differentiates biological life, which he calls Bios, and spiritual life, which he calls Zoe. He defines Zoe as "The spiritual life that is in God from eternity and that created the whole natural universe". In Beyond Personality, he uses the metaphor of humans owning only Bios, as statues:
“A man who went from having Bios to having Zoe would have undergone such a big change as a statue that went from being a carved stone to being a real man. And this is exactly what Christianity is about. This world is the shop of a great sculptor. We are the statues and the rumor is circulating that some of us will one day come to life “.
Physical and spiritual are not separate
Luke and the apostle Paul both talk about the physical activities of life, such as eating and drinking. Luke refers to them as things that "the pagan world runs after" (Luke 12: 29-30) and Paul says "do everything for the glory of God". Both men understand that our Bios, or physical life, cannot continue without food and drink, and yet once we have attained the spiritual life, O Zoe, through faith in Christ, all these physical things become spiritual, or for the glory of God.
Returning to Lewis: “The whole offer that Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, participate in the life of Christ. If we do, we will share a life that was begotten, not created, that has always existed and always will exist… Every Christian must become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply this: nothing else ”.
For Christians, followers of Christ, possessors of the spiritual life, there is no separate physical life. All life is about God. “For from him, through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen "(Romans 11:36).
Live for God, not for ourselves
The even more difficult reality to understand is that once we find ourselves "in Christ" by faith in Him, we must "put to death, therefore, all that belongs to [our] earthly nature" (Colossians 3: 5) or physical life. We do not "put to death" physical or biological activities such as eating, drinking, working, dressing, shopping, learning, exercising, socializing, enjoying nature, etc., but we must put to death the old reasons for living and enjoying physical life: everything related to pleasure only for ourselves and our flesh. (Paul, the author of Colossians, lists these things as: "sexual immorality, uncleanness, lust, evil desires, and greed".)
What's the point? The point is, if your faith is in Christ, if you have swapped your old "earth nature" or physical life for His spiritual life, then yes, everything changes. This includes the way you spend your free time. You can continue to engage in many of the activities you did before you knew Christ, but the purpose for which you do them must change. Quite simply, he has to focus on Him instead of you.
We now live, first of all, for the glory of God. We also live to "infect" others with this spiritual life we have found. “Men are mirrors or 'bearers' of Christ to other men,” Lewis wrote. Lewis called this "good infection".
“And now let's start to see what the New Testament is always about. He speaks of Christians "being born again"; he speaks of them "putting on Christ"; of Christ "who is formed in us"; about our coming to 'have the mind of Christ'. It's about Jesus coming and interfering with yourself; kill the old natural self in you and replace it with the kind of self it has. In the beginning, only for moments. So for longer periods. Finally, hopefully, you definitely turn into a different thing; in a new little Christ, a being who, in his own small way, has the same kind of life as God: who shares his power, joy, knowledge and eternity ”(Lewis).
Do it all for his glory
You may be thinking right now, if this is what Christianity really is, I don't want it. All I wanted was my life with the addition of Jesus. But this is impossible. Jesus is not an addition, like a fish bumper sticker or a cross that you could wear on a chain. He is an agent of change. And me! And he doesn't want a part of us, but all of us, including our "free" time. He wants us to be like him and for our life to be around him.
It must be true if His Word says, "So whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). So the answer is simple: If you can't do it for His glory, don't do it. If others looking at you would not be drawn to Christ by your example, don't.
The apostle Paul understood when he said, "To me, living is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
So, can you read for the glory of God? Can you watch Netflix and do it in a way that he likes and reflects his lifestyle? No one can really answer the question for you, but I promise you this: ask God to start turning your Bios into His Zoe and He will! And no, life will not get worse, it will become better than you ever imagined possible! You can enjoy heaven on earth. You will learn about God. You will trade what is meaningless and empty for fruit that lasts for all eternity!
Again, no one puts him like Lewis: "We are unconvinced creatures, who fool around with drinking, sex and ambition when we are offered infinite joy, like an ignorant child who wants to keep making mud pies in one. slum because he can't imagine what is meant by offering a beach holiday. We are all too easily satisfied. "
God absolutely cares about our lives. He wants to completely transform them and use them! What a glorious thought!