The ordinary Christian life

I watched a video from Francis Chan this week that I found disheartening. I don't really know much about Francis other than he is extremely popular in evangelical circles.

The message I heard in his video message was that “God made you for more than an ordinary life”. Francis said that we should not settle for ordinary and that God has amazing plans for each of us if we would just listen to him and expect this.

Listen, I am into dreaming big and working hard to be successful in our endeavors but to say that “God did not destine you for an average life” and that “Jesus did not die on the cross so you could live ordinary lives”, leaves many people wondering what good thing they should be giving up to chase after something extraordinary.

That God wants you to do “big” things is a common theme among books and sermons in pop-Christianity. People like to hear that, they like to believe it partly because they are constantly led to believe that ordinary is not enough.

Making a living

What people need to hear is that it is good and glorious to live an ordinary Christian life, that the most ordinary things that we do have the biggest impact in this world. Doing the hard and very unglamorous jobs of processing mortgage paperwork, checking out groceries for people, installing fencing, doing customer support, or selling insurance is very ordinary. It is also very important. It is serving our neighbors and our community in ways that they need. If that is all you do for a living that is fine and it is enough.

Duties at home

What about the home-maker and the homeschooling mom. That is very ordinary, not very glamorous at all. It is hard and even thankless work often times. In my experience this ordinary and often mundane work is building the best of a whole generation of citizens, leaders, and families. It is the ordinary work that does that.
I've seen so many people dissatisfied by their ordinary work or their ordinary lives and divert their time and energy towards “the dream”.

Like I said dream big or not but don't neglect the ordinary. The ordinary things are the things that most people will never notice. It's studying the Bible and then teaching a Bible study to a small group at work our church, reading the Bible and missionary stories to your little ones, having regular deep conversations with your teenagers, and helping the single mom in your neighborhood fix up her shed.

Certain influences early on in my life caused me to be constantly dissatisfied with the ordinary but after years of specifically putting effort into developing my home life and family, and now beginning to see the fruit from that I have learned to appreciate and be content with the ordinary.

It is my mission to promote investing more into these ordinary tasks that our generation has forgotten the importance of. Now that would be something wouldn't it, maybe even extraordinary ;).