When practicality competes with piety

These two values should go together. When they happen to be in conflict, and especially when we give more importance to practicality than to piety, it could only mean one thing—that our priorities have gone awry.

We have chosen to be a Martha instead of a Mary. But things could even be worse than that comparison. Especially these days when we are often swept away by strong pressures from all over, there is always that danger to fall for the enticements of practicality and completely leave piety behind.

To be realistic in our present conditions, we need to be ready to resist this great temptation and work toward giving piety priority over practicality. Better still, we should find a way where the two values, in their proper order, can be put together.

This, of course, will require some deepening in our convictions that God should be treated first before anything else in our life. God should be the beginning and end of everything in our life.

He is, in fact, everything to us. We need to convince ourselves more strongly that there is nothing in life where God need not be the center of interest, or where he can be set aside, at least for some time. Again, God is everything to us! That is non-negotiable.

This means that we should strengthen our belief, beefing it up with the appropriate skills that everything is and should be related to God. It’s when we think that there are things that are not directly relatable to God that gives rise to this conflict between practicality and piety.

It’s when one is practical that any situation, no matter how mundane and insignificant, can be made use of to effect the dynamics of piety. It’s truly amazing when one finally discovers how little and simple it takes to be with God always.

There are many possibilities our piety can be kept vibrant if we only know how to be practical about it also. Even the morning routine of taking a shower or shaving or dressing up can be acts of love for God and others.