The Myth Of The “Common:” Why Everything Belongs To God

The Myth of the "Common": Why Everything Belongs to God (and What it Means for How We Live)
Rejecting the sacred/secular divide is what liberates. 
Something has been bugging me. Christians are suffering terribly from:

• Exhausting moral gymnastics (navigating different ethical frameworks)
• Chronic guilt (never feeling like they're doing enough religiously)
• Spiritual staleness (faith feels mechanical despite consistent practices)
• Monday morning disconnect (jarring transition between Sunday and weekday)
• Persistent divided identity ("church self" vs. "real-world self")
• Frustration with 'secular' time demands (resentment toward non-church responsibilities)
• Resistance to whole-life discipleship (bristling at faith implications for non-religious areas)

Let me backup. Recently I was doing work among some Christian financial advisors. They are a great bunch of God-loving, people-loving disciples of Jesus. But they are, as a whole, wrong about one thing. They work from the idea of a secular/sacred divide.
How do I know? Because if you ask any of them this question: "Is 11% better to give than 10%?" They will say, "of course."
What do you say?
I say, "Only if you believe in a sacred/secular divide." Or as they say in the Old Testament a "common/clean" divide.
And they do say that in the Old Testament.
Another story: I was meeting someone for coffee who loves the Lord and loves people. He was talking about his decision to stay in the "secular" workplace, rather than become a pastor.
"I can talk to more people about Jesus at work."
What does this mean? The importance of work is that it is a place to do something scared. And what is that? It's not producing value for the company that hired him. That would be common. It's doing "spiritual stuff," like talking about Jesus. I imagine he'd also say tithing on his salary is spiritual stuff that sanctifies his work too.
That would be wrong. Because we are not in the Old Testament. We are in the New Testament. It's all spiritual stuff.
Jesus fulfilled the law.
Unless you are downright sinning, you are doing something holy.
Work is holy.
Spending time with friends is holy, even if you're not talking about God.
Making love to your spouse is holy.
Enjoying entertainment is holy.
Doing hobbies is holy.
Decorating your house is holy.
Mowing your grass is holy.
Investing in the stock market is holy.
And you don't need to justify any of it. For instance, you don't need to say, "I decorate my house so I can have people over to share Jesus, or so I can have a place to get deeper into prayer."
You don't have to justify your hobbies: "I practice woodwork so I can recharge to serve the world in soup kitchens and church."
You don't need to justify anything, because it's all holy.
And of course, prayer, Bible study, worship, attending church, and giving to the poor is also holy. But not extra holy.
If you think some things are holier than others; if you think 10% of your money is holier and more possessed by God, the other 90%, then you will never give enough until you are giving it all. You will never feel like a whole person.
And being whole is incredibly important. It's called having integrity (integer is a whole number).
Being split is the source of every problem I've ever seen in the people of God.
It's a false division. It's unbiblical. And you aren't the first Christian to make that mistake. Consider Peter.
Acts 10 tells us:
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
"What God has made clean, do not call common."
I wonder what God means there. Did he mean that he made all things clean from the beginning, but gave the Jews the distinction in the Old Testament to teach them something about holiness?
Or did he mean that Jesus took the whole world into himself and died on the cross, fulfilling the law, and making all things clean but sin?
I think it's probably the latter.
Now we say, "to the pure, all things are pure," (Titus 1:15).
This revolutionary shift ripples throughout the New Testament:
Our entire bodies are living sacrifices
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." (Romans 12:1)
Not just a portion of our lives—our entire beings are the offering.
All believers are priests
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)
Not just a special class of people—all believers have direct access to God and sacred purpose.
All of life is sacred service
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17)
Not just religious activities—everything we do can be an act of worship.
Everything belongs to God
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
Not just 10% or designated portions—everything is His.
Beyond Compartments: Christ's Holistic Vision
Jesus didn't come to create religious people who are holy for an hour on Sunday. He came to make us whole, integrating every aspect of our existence under His lordship. The New Covenant doesn't abolish the sacred—it expands it to encompass all of life.
How did we drift back into Old Testament categories? Several factors contribute:

• Compartmentalization feels more manageable than total surrender
• Lingering Greek dualistic thinkingGreek dualistic thinking that separates physical and spiritual
• Misunderstood stewardship that limits God's ownership
• Missing the biblical narrative's trajectory from "some things sacred" to "everything sacred"

At the heart of this transformation is love. Paul cuts through religious pretense: "If I have not love, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2). Love cannot be compartmentalized. It breaks down walls, crosses boundaries, and transforms how we engage with every aspect of life.
The ultimate integration Jesus brings is love without boundaries—love that permeates every interaction, recognizing that everything and everyone belongs to God.
How Then Shall We Give?
Joyfully, cheerfully, generously, as though we know God loves to provide for us. But we see everything we do as giving. We work generously, we love generously, we play generously. We are whole and we trust God completely. That's the goal anyway. Compartmentalizing life between holy and common makes all that nearly impossible. Don't fall for it.