I remember, a long time ago, hearing someone say that they hate to put bird seed out for “just” common sparrows and house finches. It was not very gratifying and they much preferred the gold finches and blue jays and cardinals–for those species are the super stars of the bird world, are they not? No one cares much about the plain brown birds. Because they are so common and ordinary.
But as I have watched the birds this winter, I was hit with the thought that most of us are sparrows. We are ordinary people, born to do ordinary things. I know this statement is very un-politically correct in this world of ” you can be anything you want to be” (which just is not the truth, by the way). But, while some of us will go on to do amazing and extra-ordinary things with our lives, most of us will remain ordinary.
It brings to mind a recent conversation I had with my brother, a pastor of a small church in Ohio. We were talking about what God expects of us. As Christians, we can start feeling pressure to do BIG things for the Lord. After all, aren’t we quite useless if we aren’t in the pastorate or on the mission field or at least in some form of Christian ministry? Aren’t we useless to Christ is we haven’t adopted an orphan or given huge sums of money to help supply clean water to people who have none?
While all of these things are GREAT things and highly recommended, we do not have to do these things to please our Lord. Now if we are called to do these things, we’d better obey. But not all of us are called. What we are all called to do each and every day is to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Whether we are making a meal, mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, going to work, or playing with the kids, we are to do it as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).
This is the heart of the transformed Christian life. This is the life God calls all of us to– a life of submission and obedience, wherever He has placed us.
Let us not place so much of our energy and time on the things we are going to do for Jesus someday that we forget how we are to live for Him right now, smack-dab in the midst of ordinary.
I have been thinking about this for a while now. My children have to write research papers about famous people. As we research these famous people, many whom have done “great” things, I am struck that while they may have done something “great” in their lives, often, their actual lives were a mess. Albert Einstien’s wife, his second wife that is, said that while he had been given a great gift of a mind, he was nearly intolerable to live with. This makes us stop and think, “What makes a man or woman great?” And I have to answer that it is living in a way that when we face the only judge of character that matters, the One Holy God, we may hear those wonderful words, “Enter in my good and faithful servant.”
Oh, my goodness, you are so right! Have you thought about starting a blog? You have such great insight!