Kung Fu Christian

My daughter, Sarah, is taking kung fu classes.  Her teacher is great.  He assigns homework for the week—things like, make your bed, clean your dishes, and clean your room.  In her last class, he told the students that these tasks aren’t simply chores to be begrudgingly done.  They are all a part of kung fu.  Kung fu pervades everything they do.  They clean their room out of respect for their parents, and that’s kung fu.  They put things in place with deliberate and powerful motions, and that’s kung fu.  It’s the wax on, wax off principal from the first Karate Kid movie and the coat on the coat rack principal from the second Karate Kid movie.  It’s even in an obscure, but funny movie called Shaolin Soccer.  Everything is done because of and for the benefit of kung fu.  Kung fu is lived, not done.

It got me to thinking what our lives would look like if we applied that same philosophy to Christian living.  I know it’s the way we’re supposed to live.  I also know I don’t do that consistently.  I may be able to read my Bible, and try to live the principles it teaches to glorify God.  But, I don’t know how to make my bed or take out the trash or mow the lawn or drive to work, and say, “That’s Christianity,” though I could do those things in a certain way and say, “That’s kung fu.”  I could brush my teeth with dramatic body motions and poses and call it kung fu style.  But, how do I brush my teeth “Christian style?”  Can I repair a sprinkler head…to the glory of God?

So, maybe that connection doesn’t work so well.  But, it seems like it should.  If my walk with Christ (living my covenant lifestyle) is supposed to be pervasive and constant, how do I apply the divine to the mundane?

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  - 1 Cor 10:31 NIV