Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan (Leviticus 25:10).

We love distinctions. We separate sacred from secular. We divide work from worship.

In these Monday devotions, I have been attempting to bridge the gap, to help us integrate our work with our worship and to see all of life as sacred. Work is worship and worship is work. Of course, work is understood to be more than income earning activity. It is our response to God's command that we steward and develop his creation. A command that did not cease with our rebellion but in Christ we are restored to re-engage in it.

The Bible does not understand these distinctions. Consider the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25). It was a year of joyful liberty for Israel. It all began when a great horn was sounded. The rumbling note called all workers to put down their tools, to engage in the cancelling of economic debts, to release slaves and debtors, to return farmland to the original owners and to a year of resting; even the land enjoyed a sabbath.

Was this year economic or spiritual devotion? Was it part of Israel's liturgical calendar or was it the end of the fiscal year? Was it sacred or secular? Was it worship or work? It was both and. The Israelites did not recognize our distinctions.

Christians have tried all kinds of ways to apply the Year of Jubilee into the modern context. Based on this chapter, there have been myriad unsuccessful attempts to convince richer people in the world to forgive the debts of poor nations. While filled with good intentions, they misuse Jubilee, which was an internal event within Israel, not a matter of international relations.

Should Christians then just ignore the year of Jubilee? No. Let me suggest two things. First, Jubilee is clearly an anticipation of the New Creation. Jubilee is primarily about the cancelling of debts. This puts us in the place of those who had debts forgiven. Entrance to the New Creation is only through the blood of Christ by which our sins are cleansed. It puts us on the receiving side of Jubilee.

Secondly, we take up the prayer of Psalm 90, Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O prosper the work of our hands! (17). The favour of God is never given for the sake of the receiver. If we receive from God, God intends for us to pass it on. That is why being forgiven by God is always connected to the forgiveness we extend our debtors. Forgiven people experience a taste of the final Jubilee. God laid this foundation in his call to Abram, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing" (Genesis 12:2).

This is how we bridge the gap between the sacred and the secular, between work and worship. At the beginning of the day, we pray for God's favour. We ask that his grace flows through us to our family, our co-workers, our neighbours and all the strangers we encounter. And then, even our income earning labour can be a source of Jubilee.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you this week, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.