Faith Is Like a Checkerboard

Have you noticed that some people who go to church are often indistinguishable nowadays compared to people who never go to church? That is, the way they live their lives is just as sinful and self-centered as people who don’t believe in God and therefore have no higher power to answer to.

The reason this happens is because of a concept called “compartmentalization.” This is the ability to put ideas and activities into separate compartments. 

I like to think of it in terms of a checkerboard. Imagine that your life is like a huge checkerboard. Each square represents a different facet of your life. There’s your work square, your family square, your kids square, and your house square. There are separate squares for your hobbies, books, movies, political views, sports teams, etc. 

Each item, each activity, has its own separate square on the checkerboard of your life. And down in the lower corner of the checkerboard is a square called “faith” or “religion.”

Whenever you are on a particular square—that is, inside a particular compartment—you focus only on that particular activity. When you’re dealing with your kids, you are on your “parent” square and you assume your parenting role and duties. When you are at the office or shop, you are on your “job” square and you assume the role of worker.

And when it’s Sunday morning and you are at church, you are on your faith or religion square, and for that hour or so you focus on faith and religious ideas. But as soon as you leave church, you move from your religion square to a different square and you leave behind all the ideas, values, and underlying beliefs of religious faith.

Personally, I’m an expert at compartmentalization. I struggle constantly with this issue. I can go to Mass on Sunday morning and sincerely pray, “Yes, Jesus, I love you and I want to serve you and do your will.” But then on Monday morning I can go to work and behave just as rudely and crudely as anyone else in the office. Since I’m not on my faith square on Mondays, faith is not a factor. 

For many years it never occurred to me that I was being hypocritical. Since I was not on my faith square during the work week, the various aspects and values of faith just didn’t apply. (Now at least I realize I’m being hypocritical, but it’s still a struggle.)

It’s important that we understand that faith is not simply a single square on the checkerboard of our lives. Faith is the entire checkerboard itself. A relationship with God must be the foundation that supports all the other squares of our lives.

So it’s not just work, family, kids, home. Instead it should be faith-work, faith-family, faith-kids, faith-home. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, then it’s true every day of the week, not just on Sundays.

Speaking of Jesus, the beginning of John’s gospel says, “Through him all things were made.” It says ALL things, not just Sunday morning religious things.

In Acts 10:36, the Bible describes Jesus as “Lord of all.” He is the Lord of ALL of creation, not just the Lord of personal, internal, subjective feelings one hour per week.

 

The idea that Jesus is the Lord of everything is a monumental proclamation. Many people do indeed understand and accept that Jesus is the Lord of all—but they understand and accept it only on Sunday morning. Once they leave church and move on to a different checkerboard square, they quickly lose sight of this fact.

So, please don’t consider your faith life as merely one of many squares on your life’s checkerboard. Faith is the entire board. Faith should be the foundation of every aspect of your life.

If more of us are able to live this way and avoid the compartmentalization mindset, then the goodness and honesty of people who go to church will stand out compared to those who have no faith. And wouldn’t that be a nice change?