Ordinary People
“Be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Ordinary isn’t a quality most people aspire to. Are you discontented with the daily grind of routine? Are you unsatisfied with being a member of an ordinary church, having an ordinary family, having ordinary friends, and working an ordinary job? Is there an epic accomplishment you’re seeking, waiting for God to give His stamp of approval? It’s hard not to be swayed by the sirens of worldly success.
Most of us are neither famous nor extraordinary, yet it should be enough to know that God values and uses those who live obedient, ordinary lives for His glory. “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thessalonians 4:11).
Meditate on these mundane words of Paul to a man named Nymphas, who hosted church meetings in his house. I am quite sure that very few Bible readers even today know who he was. “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house” (Colossians 4:15). The epistle to the Colossians is a prison epistle, written by Paul while he was in prison around 60 AD. In Colossians 4:11, Paul refers to his “fellow workers.” Who were they? Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justus. We do not know their ministries. They are not famous names like Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon. Yet they are known to God, and that for eternity.
David was an ordinary shepherd.
The apostles and disciples were ordinary Joe citizens.
Deborah was an Ephraimite, an ordinary housewife.
Martin Luther was an ordinary clergyman.
George Washington was an ordinary farmer and surveyor.
Abraham Lincoln was an ordinary country lawyer.
Francis Willard (social reformer) was an ordinary schoolteacher.
Dwight L. Moody was an ordinary shoe salesman.
Billy Graham was the son of an ordinary farmer.
Hebrews 11:38. “…of whom the world was not worthy.”
May it please the Lord Jesus to place our ordinary names in His “book of eternity.”
The Best is Yet to Be.”
Dr. Robert Bryant