I know the quick answer is 100% of the time. But here's this, even if I pray and ask God to bless my day at work, I'm not literally thinking or concentrating on God all day while I'm at work, when I'm studying for my job in my off hours, I'm not consciously reflecting on God, before I exercise, I ask God to bless my workout, but the moment I begin lifting my thoughts are on the heavy weights I'm lifting, not God per say. Part of me wonders if I should feel guilty about that. I remember teachings throughout the day, especially if some co-worker is acting like a jerk, or someone needs help and I just want to rest instead, but I have to help now. So, my question is, in the giving of ourselves over to the Lord, are we to be obsessive in our relationship with Him or are we allowed to breathe on our own a bit and concentrate on our careers and some personal 'wants'?
For the Christian person, there is no "God's stuff" and "my stuff." There is just "God's stuff." All of Reality extends from God and is sustained, moment-by-moment, by Him. All of your capacities, physical, intellectual and spiritual are obtained from Him; every bit of your environment exists only because God exists; the universe is and remains as a consequence of God. We are in His reality; He is not in ours.
Does this mean that you can't be absorbed in some activity for a time and not directly, consciously consider God? No. We simply aren't capable of that kind of constant, divided attention. There are many things I can think of (as you can, too) that require careful focus, distraction to anything else being very dangerous. Using many power/industrial tools requires this kind of focus, the loss of fingers, and arms and lives resulting from distraction. Imagine fighting a battle and trying to defend against the thrusts and slashes of an enemy's sword or spear while trying to remain absorbed with God at the same time. Yikes! You'd be wounded and/or dead in short order. Driving a car at high speed, or playing a difficult piece of music, or any number of other things require we look away from God to what we are doing. I don't think God gets in a big huff when we are, for a time, oriented exclusively on these things.
There are many things, though, that we choose to do that not only distract us from God but keep us distracted and, in fact, compete with God for the central place in our lives. Really, these things are just reflections of our natural self-centeredness, of Self, which is always, at bottom, the real "contender" with God for the throne of our hearts. When we choose to be caught up by these things to the diminishment or exclusion of God in our lives we are dishonoring Him and guilty of wrongdoing.
Christ taught that where we invest our time, energy and money - our "treasure" - there our heart will be (
Matthew 6:21). The Christian who is endlessly playing video games, hour upon hour, day upon day, never spending even a fraction of the same time and energy on their relationship with God, finds their heart, in time, far from Him, in bondage to a gaming addiction. For other Christians, it's a sport, or hobby, or some other kind of entertainment, or a relationship, that grabs them and displaces God as the central "Hub" of their lives. Each of these "idols" distracting from, and competing with God, in their lives exists in violation of God's explicit prohibition of such things in the lives of His children.
Exodus 20:1-6
1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...
Matthew 4:8-10
8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
9 and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me."
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
And so, there should be no personal want, no career choice, no activity in which you engage, that dishonors God or significantly distracts you from Him, violates His Moral Law, or diminishes His central position in your life. So, go ahead and lift weights; just don't let weightlifting overtake God's first place in your life. Go ahead and take a vacation to the Caribbean; just don't leave God behind, ignored until you return home. Go ahead and throw yourself into your career; just don't neglect to shine brightly for Christ among your co-workers, serving as his hands and heart to them, sharing with them the light and love of the Savior whom they desperately need to know.
Your life is eternal. Your eternal life to come will make the life you live in this world a mere eye-blink, a flicker of time. Why, then, live as though this life is all there is, as though it is not the tiny flash in the brilliant expanse of eternity for which you were made?
That eternity will revolve tightly around God, not you, of course. Do you know God such that this prospect delights your heart and gives you powerful hope in the midst of the trouble and tragedy of your earthly existence? If the thought of an eternity centered upon God doesn't fill you with joy, I would suggest to you that you aren't ready for the forever for which God made you. Our lives here on earth are, at bottom, a time of preparation for the unending future with God that is soon to come. Are you actually living in preparation for eternity as the Bible commands? Or are you trying to cram into the time you have here as much "good stuff" as you can, thinking an eternity centered tightly on God is going to be a very dull business?
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Matthew 6:19-20
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Romans 8:23-24
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved...
