In an effort to multitask this morning, I brushed my teeth while reading a Bible-based devotional. While I wanted to start my day off right, I felt guilty for doing something so mundane while also spending a few moments with God. It was a strange experience not just reading and praying. As I thought more about this experience, however, I felt less guilty and more aware of the fact that it’s a good thing to spend time with God as much as I possibly can. If I’m eating, driving, or brushing my teeth, why can’t I read the Bible, or take in a devotional thought, or pray, or listen to praise and worship music?

 

Solitary time focused only on God is critical, but worship is more than just those moments, and it’s certainly more than just the songs we sing on Sunday mornings. As Jesus told us, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). In context, Jesus was saying that genuine worship is not confined to a particular time and place. And as we read in the letter to the Hebrews, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Hebrews 13:15, emphasis added).

 

So, again, why shouldn’t I worship and spend time with God while I’m brushing my teeth or completing any number of mundane tasks that seem to come along multiple times a day, every day? Why shouldn’t I cleanse my heart while I cleanse my teeth? As the old song goes, “Pray where you are / In the fields and in the factories / There’s no limits, rules or boundaries / At work or school or driving in your car / Pray where you are.”

 

Troy Burns