We’ve believed a lie.
There is an unmistakable lie that can be seen in followers of the Christian faith nowadays. It sits in our pews, it dwells with us in our homes, it dips into our prayers, and filters through our cell phones.
Not a single area of our lives remains unaffected by this massive lie that is called duality.
Duality simply means having two opposing parts.
For us, it is:
that which is holy versus that which is normal.
We struggle to bring our faith and our normal life together.
We compartmentalize and we keep apart.
But if we want to become more integrated and whole, we need to move beyond this fragmented way of living.
“Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden
and waiting on the sick could be a prayer, if it were offered to God.”
— St. Martin de Porres
This Duality mindset has slipped into our whole lives, causing us to draw a thick line between that which is holy and that which is ordinary.
The everyday believer does not even use the same words or tone of voice when talking to God as they do when speaking to their friends or colleagues. While there is such a thing as reverence and respect for God (which is good), it can go too far and become unnatural.
Keeping this Duality mindset in check matters because it affects so much of our life – and our faith journey. Duality has caused us to believe many lies. Let’s look at the 2 biggest ones:
Duality Lie #1: We believe we are not called
This lie has especially spread into our understanding of mission. When we hear the word mission we think of outreaches and other outward-focused church activities. We view the clergy as those who were called into full-time ministry.
But, there is a need for us to develop a holistic spirituality and view of mission instead.
The truth is that we were all called to live missionally.
Now, you might say: What about my job, my children, my housework? What about all the other things vying for my attention and time? I can’t go on outreaches all day every day, I have a life to live!
The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus coming to earth is not (only) found in the miracles He did and the closeness He had with the Father, it is also found in that He came in human form and walked the earth as one of us. John 1:14 says ‘The Word became flesh and dwelled among us”.
He worked with His father in the workshop.
He visited friends and made jokes.
Jesus lived a full and beautiful human life, missionally.
The Bible is full of stories of normal broken people who participated in God’s mission. We need to learn to do the same. Each one of us has a valuable part to play in bringing God’s Kingdom to Earth, not only those who work for the church.
Your pastor or reverand are generally speaking to the same people every Sunday (and that’s great, that’s his mission field!). But do you know who your pastor will never have the opportunity to speak with? Your colleague, your neighbor, your classmate, and your sibling.
That is the problem of the first Duality Lie. When we believe that we are not called, we can fall into this trap and never make sharing the Gospel part of our lifestyle.
Duality Lie #2: We believe we are called but the mission is our own
Another common misconception is to see the mission as our own. We often hear Christians talk about ‘their mission’ or ‘their calling’. This increases the duality, when in fact the mission belongs to God.
God has been busy writing a story of redemption, justice, and righteousness since the beginning and He is not finished yet.
All of us have a specific and unique part to play in God’s mission but (and this is a big but) it is about co-laboring with Him, not doing it on our own. It is for His glory, not our own.
It is by reinterpreting our faith this way that our lives can start to witness to others about the goodness of God. When we view it as God’s mission and not our own, we are fueled with prophetic hope through the Holy Spirit. This fills us with faith even when our circumstances seem hopeless, because we realize that the mission is not on our own shoulders.
This second Duality Lie leads us to view mission like it is a heavy burden to carry alone, when in fact it was never ours to begin with.
Some ways to check if you have allowed duality to slip in:
- Do you break your day up into spiritual and non-spiritual activities?
- Is there a difference between bringing your problems to God and worrying?
- Have you used words like “I am called to…” or “My mission is…”?
The Gospel needs to drop down from our minds (knowing)
into our hearts (understanding);
and then into our hands and feet (doing with God).
The Gospel needs to spread into every single area of our lives
until there is no longer a divide between the sacred and the ordinary.
Then we might understand that the mission is God’s
and yet, He doesn’t want to do it alone.
Eljoh Hartzer is combining theology and art to nurture faith journeys across generations. She is a masters-level practical theologian with the University of Stellenbosch. She is also a writer and editor in the niche of Christianity and children’s content and she illustrates children’s books. Eljoh resides in the Swartland area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. She is a staff writer at Missional University focusing on missional theology and practice.
