I Don’t Want to be Ordinary

Nobody wants to be ordinary. There’s something so ordinary about ordinary. It doesn’t matter what you’re looking for, odds are you don’t want the ordinary version of it.

How would you like to have an ordinary surgeon? Nothing special. Just ordinary.

Or how would you like to get an ordinary boyfriend? I don’t think my dad would like that! Whether it’s a phone, computer, car or outfit, I don’t want the ordinary version of it.

I looked up the word ordinary. Here’s what I found:

or·di·nar·y [awr-dn-er-ee]  –adjective

1. of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional.

2. plain or undistinguished: ordinary clothes.

3. somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.

Ouch.

No thanks, I don’t want to be ordinary. I’ll take extraordinary any day of the week.

Yet if you’re like me you’ve spent countless hours trying to break through the feeling that you are nothing more than an everyday ordinary Jane. It doesn’t help to be surrounded by Justin Bieber 13 year old types who seem to gather glitter everywhere they go. We are living in an era where extraordinary is the only acceptable currency. It doesn’t matter if you’re a stay at home mom, or the CEO of a big company, if you’re anything less than extraordinary you may just not measure up.

Until you open the first few pages of the gospel of Luke and consider a radically different way. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. And it’s more than a cool title to a Christian contemporary song. It’s the truth about God and His ways.

In Luke 1 we are introduced to a simple man named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth. They are nobodies who just lived faithfully for God despite having no kids. God chooses this unlikely couple to have a son named John who would become John the Baptist.  We also meet a simple girl named Mary who isn’t even married yet but finds favor with God and becomes the mother of the Christ.

In Luke 2 we meet a group of simple shepherds to whom the angels appear. Then comes Simeon and Anna, two elderly folks who probably could barely see or hear, but become part of the prophecy of the birth of Christ.

And finally in Luke 5 we meet them – those simple ordinary guys who would later become known as The Disciples. They are just every day folks with every day jobs and every day worries. Most of us probably can’t even list all 12 of them (try it, I dare you to remember all 12 without looking them up). They have few distinctive qualities. They certainly have nothing to offer the Savior. They barely have enough faith to unlock the next level of life with Jesus.

Their faith is weak. Their understanding limited. Their motives mixed. Their competition unhealthy. Their love hollow. Their vision inward. Their patience tested.

Their hearts exactly like ours.

Ordinary folks desperate to be extraordinary. Ordinary folks who would end up doing extraordinary things, things that most of us only dream of doing. Ordinary folks who followed an extraordinary Savior.

He’s the same extraordinary Savior that you and I worship and adore. And He’s waiting to take our ordinary lives and make something extraordinary out of us.

Are you willing to let Him have His way in your life?

Related posts: