Boldly Going

I have searched for excellence in many things. The older I get though, the more it seems to slip through my fingers. By that, I don't mean that I care about it less, but rather that I can't seem to do things as well as I used to; it's harder to think intellectually about matters at times; and I can't learn things as fast as I once did. It's a struggle, getting older.

But I also go back to the fact that I don't want to care about excellence less. Rather, I think I care about it even more, but in a different way. I feel like I'm learning to be okay with taking things slower. I feel like it's okay to reflect more before making a decision. It's okay to listen, rather than talk over someone else.

Not everyone is this way. There are some people that have minds that seem to be just as sharp as they used to be. I was in work meetings this week, and I chose to sit back and listen, rather than argue points that I wasn't sure I cared about. Did my behavior mean I cared less about excellence at work? I'm still not sure. Maybe I'm just not sure that the fine points of who-is-in-charge-of-what work mean anything to me.

Last year, I was reading an issue of TableTalk magazine, and I found it quite compelling. It was about the "Ordinary Christian Life." Michael Horton wrote about this in a book called "Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World." I think there seems to be a rebellion in the Christian community against "radical" faith, promoted by David Platt and Francis Chan, to remind believers that it's also okay to be "ordinary." Here is one particularly good passage from Burk Parsons:

The ordinary Christian life is not the opposite of the radical Christian life. The ordinary Christian lifeis a radical life. The ordinary Christian life is a life of daily trusting Christ; daily repenting of our sins; daily abiding in Christ; daily loving Christ; daily dying to self; daily taking up our crosses and following Christ; daily loving God and neighbor; and daily proclaiming the gospel to ourselves, our families, our friends, and our communities. Every Christian is an ordinary Christian, and every ordinary Christian is a radical Christian. 

Here's the link to the whole article: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/radically-ordinary/.

It seems to me that Burk Parksons and Michael Horton are not saying that it's wrong to live radical, changed lives. I do heartily endorse the idea of living "ordinarily": by God's grace, living under grace and glorifying Him in all we do, especially if it's at work, with kids, and loving others. But I also love seeing God take hold of believers and doing incredible things with them: transplanting them to Los Angeles; enabling them to adopt babies from China; taking them to Spain, Asia, and other locales to spread the gospel. I'm just in awe over how God works differently in everyone's life. Maybe the real problem is that we are jealous. That when we look at others and wish for some particular excitement in ministry to apply to us, we really need to remind ourselves: "That is not my story." When we have to bear the hard times and watch loved ones die of cancer, and wish that wasn't happening, we are enabled to handle it by His grace because: "That is my story." When we are at work, and wondering if we are doing the work that He gives us, we tell ourselves: "This is the story that I have right now. Live it."

I'm still wondering if I'm giving Him the proper glory at work. I'm not sure. But I'm boldly approaching the throne of grace, seeking His will for my life there.