Instead or through?

We can look at this emphasis on God and his glory in one way, the instead of way. Or, we can look at this emphasis on God and his glory in another way, the through way. In the instead of way, we end up seeing God and his glory instead of our interests, our pursuits, our work, our relationships, our lives. That's not Christianity. That's monasticism. If we take the approach to emphasizing God and his glory in the through way, we see how our interests, our pursuits, our work, our relationships, our lives fit. This approach allows us to see how all that we do becomes not a distraction from God's glory, but the means by which we live for and reflect God's glory. (Nichols, Stephen J. Welcome to the Story: Reading, Loving, Living God's Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011. Print. 114)

This concept helps us dramatically when we think about those things that do not SEEM to fall directly under the category 'spiritual'. Whether it is work or play, or anything else, it is all spiritual and we must look at all things through the lens of God's glory. We can find our lives by losing them!