Feeling Ordinary? Sýnishorn

Ordinary Christianity

I wonder if the devil loves extraordinary Christianity. By “extraordinary,” I mean those stories you read in Christian books about people who prayed for three hours a day and shared the gospel with thousands and impacted the lives of millions. I wonder if the enemy loves the extraordinary, because most of us are ordinary. (No offense.) We wake up with bedhead, try to keep up with email, and attempt to work out more than we eat dessert. Ordinary. The problem with extraordinary Christianity is spectator spirituality. Ordinary people like me and you sit in the stands and watch the “real” heroes do great things for God. 

But—listen—that misses a massive teaching in the Bible: God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. People like me. People like you. Two ordinary midwives saved the life of Moses (Exodus 1:17). A bunch of ordinary fishermen were Jesus’ first-draft picks (Matthew 4:21). Or, my favorite, this truth from Paul: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:26,27).

So don’t worry if you’re the smartest, the skinniest, the strongest, or the latest social media influencer. God isn’t looking for that. He’s looking for you, ordinary you, to do his extraordinary work of loving people in Jesus’ name.