Live ‘Coram Deo’
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As some of you may know, I attend UNC and classes here are just now starting to wrap up, which does not mean that things slow down, rather that things speed up. That means I’ve been pretty busy this week, and, unfortunately, it also means this will be my last podcast episode for a few weeks as I need to prepare for final exams in my classes.
And one of the classes I’ll be preparing for is accounting. I’ve learned a lot in that class, but it’s all been practical learning. And as much as I love practical learning, which I do, I’m always interested in the spiritual aspect of things. So this week I started doing a study on biblical finance, and it has been really interesting. I’ve really enjoyed the study so far, and although I’m not finished with it, I want to share something that I learned with you today.
At the end of the first episode of this series that I’m watching, the guy speaking, his name is Adam Burell, encouraged me to live ‘Coram Deo’ with my finances.
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Now what does that mean?
That phrase ‘Coram Deo’ is Greek and it means ‘before the sight of God’.
So Adam was encouraging me and everyone listening to manage their finances before the sight of God. He wanted us to live out every financial decision and transaction as if we were in the presence of God, under His authority, and to His glory. Of course God is always with us, but Adam was encouraging us specifically to live as if we were always in God’s presence, like the moments Isaiah and John were. The two men who fell flat on their face in reverence and worship and fear of the Lord.
So that phrase ‘to live Coram Deo’, has really stuck with me. But not so much financially.
It has just stuck with me in relation to my whole life, and that is how I want to encourage you today. I want you, my friend, to live ‘Coram Deo’. I want you to live ‘Coram Deo’ not just with your finances, but with your relationships, your classes, your job. I want you to live ‘Coram Deo’ in everything.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says
‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’.
Wow. What a beautiful verse. I love it.
‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’.
Now eating and drinking is something that took place every day in the city of Corinth, the city/church Paul was writing to. And just like Corinth, we too eat and drink every single day. What that means is that eating and drinking is mundane. It is commonplace.
And that word mundane, as Cambridge University describes it, means ‘very ordinary and therefore not interesting’.
So Paul is telling the church of Corinth, and he is telling you and me, to do everything, from the very ordinary and seemingly small things, like eating and drinking, to the extraordinary and seemingly big things, like finances and relationships, to do EVERYTHING to the glory of God.
He’s encouraging us to live ‘Coram Deo’.
So that means you can brush your teeth to the glory of God, and you can say hello to someone and make them feel seen to the glory of God. You can take out the trash to the glory of God, you can take a test to the glory of God. You can drive to the glory of God. You can get a job to the glory of God and get married to the glory of God….and of course, you can manage your finances to the glory of God.
The point is, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, you can do EVERYTHING to the glory of God.
So live your life before the sight of God today. Your audience of one.
Live ‘Coram Deo’.
I love you guys! Have an amazing Friday. God bless.
