The Ordinary Christian Life
There is a great problem. It is a problem with the idea of being ordinary. It has been noticed for some time now that adjectives that emphasis greatness have found their way into the common lexicon, and when we hear them, we have definitely turned our heads to see what has caused the latest discussion of the latest word.
It is tempting to see these adjectives and the words they qualify as something common and in frequent use by promoters of shows and events where their jobs require them to be as brash and loud as possible about the event they are about to host. This is to ensure that sufficient buzz circulates around the immediate vicinity or state and, where there is enough funding, across the nation about the impending show.
It can no longer be so. We can no longer see the idea of describing life and every event and situation that people are involved with grandiose adjectives as things limited to just institutions. It is now with us the people. The people no longer see anything that affects them or proceeds from them as things that should be described with “ordinary” words or as things to be seen as living the ordinary Christian life.
This idea of not living the ordinary Christian life seems to be a snipe at those who live the ordinary Christian life. We need to unpack that a bit. The ordinary Christian is one who obeys the word of God and serves as a slave to His Lord and not just as a slave but as a brother and friend as well.
He or she is the one who uses the ways God has given to us to walk with him. These ways are not hidden or shroud in mystery, they are means of grace.
We pray with the trust of a young child
We read the bible with the trust of a young child
We are baptized in ordinary water used in the community for other purposes
We break bread and drink wine, simple, ordinary food in obedience to our Lord.
When we share the goods of this world with one another, we do it through ordinary means.
When we gather together, we sing songs of worship and praise to our heavenly father with the help of our ordinary imperfect voices.
Care and love for one another as children of God is done through praying and support with our ordinary time and provision of our ordinary goods.
When we speak the gospel of truth, we speak to the ordinary people around us. We interact with them aware of the ordinary life they are living and using it as a pointer to our discussion of interest.
Ordinary does not mean mediocre, it does not mean lifeless, it does not mean devoid of value. It means habitual, routine, day-to-day, normal.
It is by doing these things day by day and habitually and routinely that men who have gone before us cut their teeth and were able to live the lives we so endure.
Without the routine, habitual, ordinary things of Christ that has been given to us in the bible, we will not be living the life of the ordinary Christian. At that point, we can’t afford to pray that we refuse to live an ordinary Christian life. It is unbecoming.
For a comprehensive review of the matter, there is an excellent book by Dr Michael Horton titled Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World
An Angel of the Lord told me
September 30, 2017 by Jide Ajayi • Issues, Life •
I am always amused when I hear people speak in conversations, and in two or three sentences they utter a few “God laid it on my heart” or “God told me” to do one thing or another. The things they say God told them to do are things that sometimes are altruistic in the interest of one’s neighbor though at other times, they are self-centered desires within the heart, which does not reflect the mind of God in anyway.
In Act 27, we see Paul at the start of the journey to Rome after the Felix granted his request for audience with Caesar since Paul and his friends were not willing to give him the bribe he desired.
As a result of the events above, Paul as a prisoner finds himself on a ship that was sailing to Rome with other prisoners. There are so many details in this section about waves, sailing seasons, seas and cities that gives such a rich trove of the period and seafaring.
In Acts 27:9, we get a snapshot of the journey and person of the apostle. Luke tells us that the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was now over. The fast here being the Yom Kippor fast or the day of Atonement fast, which is around our September-October period. This gives us a clue into the time of the journey and there by understand the nature of the weather and seafaring at the time. From Luke’s statement, there is communication to the reader of an understanding, that this period is a time of dangerous voyage. In this sentence, the stage is set for the next part of the story. The voyage was already long as much time had passed, then the time of the year was another challenge that would only make matters worse. In this crescendo, Paul speaks, and the choice of word is just succinct, he said I perceive that the voyage is going to end in disaster. At this point, he did not say the Lord laid it on my heart, or I just heard from the Lord that this voyage is going to end in disaster, he said, I perceive…
This is because he saw what Luke saw and wrote and probably what other could see or not, moreover, his experience in sailing from location to location during the missionary journeys and knowledge o the sailing seasons would have informed his observation and notice.
We are human and we are allowed to use the faculties God has given to us especially when we become Christians. We can say I perceive, we can say based on my experience, it does not means we don’t have faith, it does not mean God cannot use our experience or the reverse of it. It means we can be thankful for the gifts God has given to us and that we can use them for his glory.
In a few verses after the ship had been thrown around a few times and enough loss had been experienced, we see in Acts 27:23, reference is made to someone other than Paul and he said, an Angel of the Lord whose I am and whom I serve came to me saying…It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar.
Again we see Paul does not use wording or phrasing that is common today, he reported it as it is, reporting exactly from where the source of each speech came.
The Lord is gracious and he can do whatever he wants to do in anyway he wants to do it but when everyone sounds alike without really sounding like those influenced by the word of God, there is that wonder whether it is of God or another spirit.