I don’t have many hobbies, but I do love to read. To experience as many books as possible, I rotate through various genres so I can take in as much as I can. Fiction, mystery, non-fiction, devotional, repeat the cycle. Currently, I’m nearing the end of a fiction series. While I’ve enjoyed the journey, it has struck me several times that everyone in it is beautiful. They are young, vivacious, and gorgeous human beings. And if being good looking were not enough, they often possess some sort of special ability or powerful secret. This is true of every single character. While it paints a captivating picture, it gets a little old and I find myself missing the ordinary.

Ordinary is underrated. It is not flashy or attention-seeking. It doesn’t hold a position of power or massive influence. It is not very outstanding in the ways our culture tends to celebrate. Honestly, most of us are ordinary and this is a good thing. God works in the ordinary. In fact, ordinary people seem to be His favorite to use. So why do we often feel like being ordinary is not enough? That only pastors are qualified to pray with others, or only missionaries can care for the unhoused? That it’s the divinely labeled roles that matter most?

If we look at scripture, most of the people God used were incredibly ordinary. Ordinary people like Amos. He was a sheep breeder, a shepherd. A completely ordinary job. Yet he was called by the Lord to deliver a difficult message of God’s judgment on Israel. It was a call to repentance and, unsurprisingly, not a message people wanted to hear. A priest, of all people, tries to ruin Amos’ reputation by belittling and demeaning him. Still, Amos stands firm with the message he was given and when his task was complete, he returned to the countryside and his flock. An ordinary man who carried an extraordinary message.

God will call us to hard things. We carry messages of love, mercy, and grace, but those messages are not always welcomed. Still, we are called to stand firm –not when we feel ready or fully equipped but right now in our ordinariness. It is in our ordinary selves that God’s message truly shines, uninhibited by our own brand or message. In the mundane moments of life, God is at work doing the extraordinary. Will we continue to remain blind to it by deeming ourselves not enough or can we celebrate the ways God chooses to use the ordinary?

Engage

• Who is an ordinary person who positively influenced your life?
• How can you communicate God’s love and compassion to someone today as your ordinary self?
• Take an inventory of the ordinary: 
  • In what ways have you allowed being ordinary to hold you back? 
  • Where are the places God is wanting to use your ordinariness to reach others?

Supporting Scripture

“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

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