Fabulous, ordinary you!
Many of us have a love-hate relationship with ourselves. No-one knows our flaws and limitations better than us. Yet most of us also secretly believe we are capable of great things — if we only we were thinner, younger, older, richer, more famous, our boss recognized our capabilities, we had more time, better education — and the list goes on.
I can relate. I understand all too well the struggle between mediocrity and potential. The fact that this blog exists at all is a monumental victory (read my post “What Are You Waiting For?” for more on that).
Here’s the truth. The devil would love to keep us bound by our limitations. He would love us to believe the lie that we have to be perfect, brilliant and off-the-charts talented to amount to anything. Because then he would win. You see, God has a mighty plan and the devil’s full-time job is to thwart it. In the church world we call it “The Great Commission”.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
Jesus didn’t say that only the ‘great’ would carry out the Great Commission. In fact, the men who were Jesus’ chosen few were anything but great. They were largely uneducated, unremarkable and definitely ill equipped for the task. They spent night and day learning from the Master for three years, and yet they still managed to miss the point of most of his illustrations, tried to tell Jesus how to do His job, mismanaged His priorities, and fought for pole position. In other words, ordinary people.
So why did He pick them? Far be it from me to try and analyze His choices, but if I were to hazard a guess, the 12 disciples had two primary qualities that qualified them. First, they were willing to leave all they knew to follow Him. And second, they were humble, unpretentious and unremarkable. When Jesus looked at the men He chose to be His closest companions, the ones he would leave behind to continue His work, he saw beyond what others saw. He looked at their hearts. He saw who they were when He called them, and who they would become as they were transformed by God into the image of God.
That’s just one of the incredible things about God. He loves us as we are, and sees beyond who we are today to who He has created us to be. He sees us through rose colored lenses — colored by the blood He shed for us.
“He sees us through rose colored lenses — colored by the blood He shed for us. ”
There really is no such thing as “ordinary” - every created being is extraordinary, because God is supremely creative. There is only one you. You are unique, and only you can live out God’s plan for your life. He knew us long before we were formed and all our days were written in His book long before they happen (Psalm 139:13-16).
On the other hand, God loves to use the humble, the weak, and the lowly to do His work because He knows He can shine through them. 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 says it so well:
“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. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
I love this passage! When I read this I see “You are qualified.” I am delighted to be “lowly” and “despised” because I am in excellent company. When the prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah, he said
“He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. “
(Isaiah 53:3 NIV)
My hope for you today is that you embrace YOU. My prayer is that you delight in the person God created you to be, and rejoice that God uses the humble, the lowly and the ordinary to do extraordinary things through Him and for Him, for His glory.
I hope you will join me on this journey as I share stories of people just like you and me who are quietly serving God, reflecting Him and changing their world in their little corner of the universe, unseen by anyone but Almighty God. And one day I hope to encourage others to do the same by telling your story.
