Ordinary Christians - God's Primary Choice
"Just because I'm ordinary doesn't mean I'm secondary ordinary Christians are God's primary choice for doing His extraordinary work" Jay Moore
This is a little saying that I like to use! However, I have found that it gets a lot of mixed reviews!
Some people reaction when they hear that slogan feel that I am bashing Christians by calling them ordinary. They say things like, "Now that we're Follower of Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in us we are no longer ordinary." And I wholeheartedly agree with them that our new life in Christ does make us extraordinary. But with that said I must remind all of us that intrinsically, in and of ourselves, there is nothing good about us! Our only goodness comes from Christ in us.
A second reaction I get from people comes from what I like to call the professional minister. This is the guy who has gone through Bible college and seminary; they have gone through an ordination process; and now make there living from doing the ministry. This group of people also feel insulted but for a different reason. When they hear that statement they get the idea that I am trying to down play their importance and strip them from some place of honor they feel they should have. I feel this attitude interesting since I also have a Christian college education majoring in religion and a seminary theological education with a master's degree.
But then there is a third group of people who are actually energized by this little quote! These are the people who have never been empowered, encouraged or even equipped to live a significant life on mission with Christ. These are the people who have felt there only role in church was to come and attend. These are some of God's children who've wished they could be involved in some project that would have an eternal impact but have never felt it would happen because, after all, they're just ordinary and why would God want to use them when He could use someone else more talented or educated.
But I'm here to tell you God not only loves to use Ordinary Christians but that Ordinary Christians is God's primary choice for doing His extraordinary work. The Biblical record is filled with such examples. All of the apostles were ordinary men, King David was the youngest of his family and Gideon was a fearful coward. Over and over again we see God choosing that which the world would have never considered to do His amazing work. We discover God using ordinary people is not the exception but the rule as we study the Bible.
So why? Why would God choose ordinary people as His primary choice for doing His work? The answer is simple! God chooses men and women like us, ordinary people, because he wants to confound the wise of this world! When people look and see what God is able to do through ordinary people the explanation for its success has to be GOD WAS THE ONE WHO DID IT! That's right, God loves to use the ordinary of this world so that He will get the credit for what was done!
The truth is that God is always the one who accomplishes His work but He just chooses to do it through people. If God always used extraordinary men to do his work the world would try to explain away the results saying that it only happened because highly talented people were in charge of it. But when some ordinary person does something that turns out great the only explanation will be GOD!
So are you an Ordinary Christian? Do you feel like there are others more talented and more gifted than you? Do you down deep inside long for God to use you to accomplish something amazing?
THEN I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!
You are exactly the kind of person that God loves to use to accomplish His extraordinary work and the only requirement is that you must be a person of:
FAITH!
Do you believe that God can do anything? Do you believe that God can do anything through anybody? Do you believe that God can do anything, through anybody, including YOU! Now that's what I call faith!