Navigating “Seculosity” and Faith

Navigating "Seculosity" and Faith
by
August 04, 2026

This Sunday, we will welcome Belmont University President Dr. Greg Jones to Woodmont. Greg is a close friend of mine and is certainly leading Belmont to new heights. I have been honored to serve on Belmont’s Board over the past five years and have watched Greg’s leadership in action. We have been fortunate enough to have him preach here at Woodmont several times in recent years. Greg was also recently named the 2026 Nashvillian of the Year by Easter Seals, which is a high honor. We look forward to hearing his message titled “The Gap and the Gain” on Philippians 4:4-9.

On Sunday, I mentioned a book titled “SECULOSITY” by a guy named David Zahl. What Zahl argues is that, contrary to what some believe, our culture is actually very religious. The problem is, we are often religious about secular things. Everybody looks for something to justify their existence and give them meaning and purpose. That’s part of being human. Historically, faith and spirituality have filled that role. But in today’s world, there are many different things that fill this role for people, including:

  • CAREER SUCCESS – People believe that they are what they do; when we meet new people, we ask “what do you do?” As if their profession tells us everything.
  • PHYSICAL FITNESS – Some people have an obsession with staying fit and looking young and will spend tons of money to make that happen
  • POLITICS – People now look to politics to solve all their problems, and then they are always disappointed; and we are living in an age of extreme politics on both sides
  • ROMANCE – We expect our spouse or our partner to completely fulfill us, and we have unrealistic expectations of them. Successful marriages navigate disappointment.
  • TECHNOLOGY and SOCIAL MEDIA – Keep us living in this constant culture of comparison where we always know what other people have and what they are doing
  • PARENTING – People turn their kids into idols and will spend every waking minute doing travel sports and whatever they think will give their kid an advantage.
  • SPORTS – Becomes our end-all, be-all; and we get in a horrible mood if the 19-year-olds that are now making millions of dollars lose the game for us.

Zahl’s concept of SECULOSITY is that we take normal, healthy things, we overdo it, and we turn these things into a form of religion. And if you look around in the culture, you can see examples of this everywhere. We are all religious. We all worship something. It’s just sometimes we throw our entire selves into the wrong things. Oftentimes, we don’t even realize that we are doing it.

We do live in a high-pressured culture where everybody is restless and wants to feel like they are enough. Zahl says, “Wherever you are most tired, look closely, and you’ll likely find self-justification at work, the drive to validate your existence – to assert your lovability.” But if we stop looking to God and Jesus Christ for our salvation, we are always going to be let down and disappointed. We are always going to feel like we are not enough in a world of constant competition. This is why so many people in our culture feel exhausted, restless, insecure, and never satisfied. Our church’s mission is “Growing disciples of Christ.” We are growing followers of Jesus in a world where discipleship is challenging but more necessary than ever before. Jesus promises us peace and fullness of life. The ongoing question is, do we put the same time and energy into following Jesus as we do all the other things? That’s what we have to ask and also answer.

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