The Ordinary Christian Life

August 16, 2017 by • Life • Tags: , •

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

Charting Jesus

July 31, 2017 by • Life • Tags: •

I typed Jesus into the WolframAlpha app today just to see what it would come up with. It generated some information that spoke about Jesus from a reported story perspective like, seen by most Christians as the son of God, traditionally believed by Christians to have been born of a virgin and to have risen from the dead. Those are true statements irrespective of the position of the speaker.
The one thing I found interesting in the entry about Jesus was the chart that was produced which is based on the weekly averages of daily hits to English language “Jesus Christ” page from Wikipedia page hits history.
In the chart, which has an x scale starting from 2008 to 2017, years 2010 – 2014 had the highest hits for the Jesus search, while the search began to dip around late 2015 to date.
Looking at that data, I asked myself what might be the reason for the dip and these are the thoughts I had, could be that interest in Jesus among the users of Wikipedia is dropping, it could be that the quality of the information is not strong enough in its representation of Jesus or maybe more people are becoming less like Christ and a simple thing like a wikipedia search hit is showing that or maybe the data does not reflect anything.
So I did another search that still borders around religious names and found that a general trend among users of wikipedia is that there is less interest in religious matters.
Maybe it is a sign of the times, or may be it is just an issue that affects users of wikipedia, it looks like more research maybe called for. However it is Jesus is the limelight.

Standing Firm

June 30, 2017 by • Bible, Life, Standing Firm, Thoughts • Tags: , , , •

The Story of Mordecai and Haman in the Book of Esther is instructive in a number of ways but one thing that stands out above most is the value of standing firm in what one believes.
This is just a short article focused on that one thing
One with tongue in cheek could say it was a common virtue between Mordecai and Haman except may be Haman could be seen as being infatuated with his ego and desire to be bowed unto by Mordecai in particular.
Mordecai refused to bow unto Haman, he was not someone who did not know the laws of the land, considering that he was careful not to wear sackcloth at the gate of the palace of the king though he stood at the entrance to the gate. He seemed to know of Haman’s anti-Jew stance and decided to ignore him and maybe he was just proud and refused . This attitude brought the worst out of Haman. He thought of nothing else but how to get back at Mordecai.
No matter how high he rose in the government of the day, the only pleasure he sought was the destruction of Mordecai. Unfortunately for him, he decided Mordecai was not enough, he had to exterminate all Jews everywhere including the hanging of Mordecai on the gallows.
it is not so clear what drove Mordecai, but he seemed to know that though they were far from Israel, God was near and close by and once the law came out that the Jews were to be exterminated, he went all out in his belief that God could save while using every legitimate means he could lay his hands on.
In the providence of God, things began to turn sour for Haman, first, he leads Mordecai on a ride around town declaring how the king honors the one he delights in, then the issue with Esther comes up which costs him his life. On the flip side of things, the state of Mordecai changes till be becomes what Mordecai despised.
It is instructive that we don’t get infatuated with people who are below us in life’s station, especially if they decide they will not respect up or defer to us in any way, in all reality, it takes nothing from us. If they are wrong, they will pay and if not it doesn’t change anything.
This issue became bigger because because in the grand scheme of things, Haman wanted to kill all Jews in the whole kingdom which would include the land of the Jews, which would affect God’s plan and so though not mentioned directly, God intervenes and turns around the evil plan of Mordecai.
God is not asleep, he sees everything, he allows somethings to happen and prevents others from happening. He know why he does what he does but whatever the case, he never stops working on behalf of his people even through ordinary means.
So stand firm and stay with the Lord, it is the safest place to be.

Psalm 84

May 31, 2017 by • Life, Word • Tags: , •

This is a psalm of joy. Psalms are filled with variations of the human experience. They reflect the thoughts in the heart of the singer during the expressions recorded in the psalm. In this particular psalm, the author focuses on joy and the true source of joy. 
It is easy to see oneself as joyful when everything lines up and desires are met and fulfilled unabated. That is the type of joy that easily comes to mind. It is the type of joy we can gladly share with others. They can participate in the euphoria of those things that gladden our hearts and maybe hope for the same in their own lives. 
In this Psalm, the author is looking at something external and internal to himself. He is not recounting a joy sourced from acquisition of material things. He is looking at the joy that can only come from God. 
He rejoices in the dwelling house of God for he believes that God is there and for that reason he longs for it in a deep way such that his heart and flesh sings for joy to the living God. 
There are people who easily express their happiness with singing. The heart that is content with God is filled with a joy that surpasses human understanding.
The joy in the presence of God does not end with singing out of joy, it goes to express the care that sparrows and swallows find by building their home and nest and lay their young. 
In this joy, the author expresses the truth of having ones strength and trust in the Lord and the Lord in one’s heart, as it is a blessing. This blessing is such that as they go through the valley of weeping, they make it a place of spring while the early rain covers it with pools. This reveals the strength of God blessing on them and his ability to bring blessings to others through them. All these grants them progress as they grow from strength to strength before God.
After expressing the truth of the blessings of trust in God, he goes back to expressing the belief in his heart that a day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand elsewhere just as much as he would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God that dwell in the tents of wickedness. This shows to us the joy and pleasantness of being in God’s presence than elsewhere. That it is profitable and sensible to trust in God. That a heart that trusts in God is one that seeks to be in the presence of God.
He ends the song by expressing another truth about God, that he is a sun and shield who bestows favor honor and that he does not withhold a good thing from those who walk uprightly which speaks of the myriad of ways God bless his people who trust in him as his nature causes him to make good those things he gives to those who walk according to his uprightness. 
This psalm gets me excited. I think of the many ways in which trusting in God has been justified in many ways in my life. It does not mean I got everything I was looking for but rather, I received every good thing he had for me in my valley of Baca. Indeed, Blessed is the one who trusts in you!JoytrustJoy and trust

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