The Fear of Being Ordinary
By Andrew Schwab
The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
WHY DO WE all want to be such a big deal? Because there is nothing worse than being ordinary, right? But you had better believe this is a lie, and a big one.
Because there are more than a few holes in this philosophy. The recognition we seek will only lead to our destruction when we make it our treasure. Fame leads to pride. Success leads to more temptation. Glory leads to corruption. It seems to me like we weren't made for these things, that we were constructed to find peace in something else.
Didn't someone we know tell us that meaning is found in exactly the opposite approach? Doesn't the Bible tell us that God chose the things that are not to shame the things that are? Doesn't it say that God is with the lowly things, the have-nots? Doesn't it say over and over again that meaning is found in service, and that true peace is found in taking a backseat to those you love?
Consider this: Meaning is not found in the acceptance of other people. Your value is not based on opinion. You have value, really and truly, because of who you are in God, not because of who knows you.
Even in your most "humble" and "good" intentions, you can have motivations for fame. Closely examine your career, activities and relationships for signs of self-glorification. How can you correct this mindset?
Life happens while you're doing something else.
By Don Miller
Life happens while you're doing something else.
By Don Miller
Just yesterday my girl Paige and I were doing some grocery shopping and started talking about how much of life is lived to maintain life itself, that is we farm (or shop) to eat, we make (or buy) clothes, we monitor our bodies and employ them to rest and to exercise, all to farm and make clothes.
After thinking about this idea more, I meshed it in my mind to the story of the Tower of Babel and how God destroyed a cultures attempts to reach God, a luxurious and ridiculous effort born from the modernization of the culture, the existence of a slave culture, no doubt, and a lot of free time.
The narrative of that account combined with the amount of time it takes our God-designed bodies and minds to simply sustain our temporary existence leads me to some comforting facts:
1. God is not interested in using you to build anything that might be used to replace him or give you the false sense you can interact with him without giving him all agency.
2. What God wants us to do here on earth is something we can do while doing something else.
And so I’m learning that the stuff that God wants us to do happens while we are shopping for food and making clothes and walking the dog and clearing the table to do the dishes.
In my opinion, the stuff of life is about this, then:
1. Loving each other, and learning to do so as unconditionally as possible, which will also require a leaning on God.
2. Forgiving each other, and leaning on God to do so.
3. Providing for each other and working together for the good of those we love.
4. Giving our lives to God in the sense we must learn not to grapple for control.
I don’t believe God is helping you build a Tower of Babel, be that your career or your church or your perfect family. But I do believe God wants to help you love, forgive, be patient, provide for those you love and give him control of your life.
What gets built with God’s help, then, is less tangible. The Kingdom of God, at least on earth in our time, is perhaps a relational construct.
What do you think God is helping you do? And what do you think people believe God is doing that you aren’t so sure he’s involved?
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