My brain is foggy this morning, so I have opted to pull a back issue out of the archives. This issue originally appeared in September 2005.
The house is quiet. The only sounds are the buzz of my laptop’s power supply and the dripping/gurgling of the coffee pot. My eldest son, Kris, was off to his full-time job before I awoke. He works both a full-time and a part-time job at the moment. Kathy is awakening for work, and soon Kyle will be getting up for school.
Tigger the cat came by my office for a quick visit, then went back to bed. Genni the wonder dog is sitting expectantly beside me. She shared my bagel and cream cheese and is hoping in vain that there might be more.
Brief intermission in the narration as Kevin goes to get his morning cup of coffee.
It’s a good cup. Sometimes in the morning, I’m not the best at counting the number of scoops so that the first taste can be an adventure. I must have measured right today.
So what?
Well, the subtitle of this daily devotional is “Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life.” You just caught a snapshot from our very ordinary lives. We’re ordinary, everyday people having an ordinary day. We’re just “plain folk”. Some would even say we’re boring, but I prefer the term “content”.
The good news is that God works through very ordinary people in everyday life.
Moses was an aging shepherd with a warrant out for his arrest for murder. Abraham was an aging businessman. Gideon worked secretly in the family winepress out of fear. David tended sheep. The disciples were an odd combination of blue-collar workers, petty criminals, and zealots.
It’s the power of our righteous and holy God who transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
The all powerful God of creation could have accomplished His goals in any way He wished. Yet He chose to give us the blessing of participating with Him. He’s given you and me, ordinary people, the task of sharing His love with the world. He’s made us to be salt and light to a dark world.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 NIV
That means that while our lives may be ordinary and while the world may think we’re ordinary, we’re truly extraordinary people. Not because of who we are but because we’ve allowed a holy God to accomplish His work through us.
You are an instrument of peace, love, joy, and transformation. Absolutely nothing short of God Himself could be less ordinary.
The flip side of the coin is that we never know what ordinary people are being used in extraordinary ways by God. That behooves us (I know behooves is a dated word, but I love the sound of it) to treat all people as if they were special in the eyes of God. We have no reason not to do so.
Until next time, I pray you get a grasp of how truly extraordinary and how valuable you are for all eternity when Jesus works through you, and may you learn to see all people as He sees them.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed,
