Friday Communication - 2nd February 2024
Have you ever thought how good the ordinary is? I was struck by that as I reflected on this January past. I have had an ordinary start to my year. By that I mean I have experienced what I ordinarily experience at the beginning of the year. I have been able to meet regularly with other believers to sing God’s praise, pray, and hear His word. I have been able to enjoy time with family and friends, eat all I need, sleep, go about my business in peace. I have had the encouragement of seeing GSF happen, the encouragement of seeing the love and faith of many believers expressed in serving in sharing the gospel. This month I have also seen believers go in and out of hospital, endure our common frailty, yet not be overwhelmed and despairing, still have something to look forward to even as their bodies fail. And I have been to a Christian funeral, the funeral of a pastor only a few months younger than me, where God’s promises of gracious forgiveness and resurrection were heard.
An ordinary to be thankful for
There is nothing unusual, out of the ordinary, in any of that. But isn’t the believer’s good ordinary a cause for thankfulness. If you don’t think that, are struggling to be thankful in the busyness of your life, pause and consider. Not many parts of the world enjoy the peace, prosperity and freedom we have, and they are the gifts of God who shows kindness to all in sending the rain and the sun [Acts 14:15-17, Matt. 5:45] and who rules over the affairs of nations. Are they not a cause for thankfulness? Many believers are not free to meet without fear and Covid for a time removed that gift from us, yet our Sunday gathering is now so much part of our ordinary that some take it for granted. And it is not just the fact of our meeting but its ordinary content, what we do week by week, that is good. We can hear the word of the living God helping us trust the Lord Jesus for salvation and giving us light to live by in the darkness of human confusion and ignorance. We can come with confidence into the presence of the holy God in prayer knowing we are heard by Him because of our Lord Jesus’ effective work on the cross dealing with our sin. We have a cause of praise in the victory of our Lord Jesus as each week we meet on the day of resurrection. Is all this not a cause for thankfulness? We, members of Adam’s race whose lives on this earth are fleeting, like the grass of the field, are free to share with children, our own and others, the truth that will give them eternal life, and believing in Jesus we ourselves can live and die with that great hope. In a world of tears and loss we grieve with hope, something we remember at every Christian funeral – and funerals are ordinary business for a race enslaved to death. And because our Lord made loving each other as He has loved us the mark of being His people we live in a community where we expect to show and receive love, to have relationships marked by loving in deed and truth. So much to be thankful for in our good ordinary.
But the greatest cause for thanks is knowing that all this good we enjoy is ours because we have an extraordinary God.
Our Extraordinary God
Our God, Father, Son and Spirit, One God, is the only God, the almighty ruler over all, before whom the nations are ‘like a drop in a bucket”, as “dust on the scales.” [Is. 40:15]. He has proclaimed Himself to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, both forgiving and just [Exodus 34:6-7], and He has shown Himself to be true to His name in sending His Son into the world to save through His death and rising people like us, who have rebelled against His rule. He is the God who shows mercy to all who call on Him, who graciously, of His own initiative, saves those who believe the gospel of His Son, saves them by forgiving their sins, adopting them as His children, giving them His Spirit so we are assured of His love and life forever. Every day we know His steadfast love and faithfulness, His almighty Fatherly care and discipline that works all things for our good.
It is worth pausing from time to time to recognize how good the ordinary life of a believer in Jesus is, and to praise our extraordinary God who gives us this good ordinary.
Not everyone’s ordinary is good
And it is also worth remembering that many other people’s ordinary lives, the lives of many of our neighbours, are not so good because they are lived ‘without hope and without God in the world’ [Eph. 2:12]. Perhaps you can remember only too well what that is like, or perhaps you have lived so long with the ordinary good of being a believer that memory has faded. But imagine what it would be like to go to that funeral without hope; to feel the insecurity of enjoying plenty, not as the gift of God, but as something you are solely responsible for; of fearing a future you cannot control and knowing no one who can; of experiencing sickness and frailty not as slight and momentary afflictions [2 Cor. 4:17] but as the beginning of irreversible and ultimate loss; of being in relationships where you are only valued for what you can contribute. Knowing others are without hope and without God should excite our compassion.
So when you give thanks for the ordinary good our extraordinary God gives us, also give thanks that part of that ordinary good is having good news of a gracious Saviour to share with our neighbours, good news that can bring them to share in the good ordinary we enjoy each day. More, make sharing that good news with others what it is meant to be, part of the usual, unremarkable life of a believer in Jesus, part of our good ordinary.
