Christ, the Word made flesh, came into the world as ordinary, common and routine. The place where He first laid His head was deficient in quality and inferior. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:2-3. He lived for 30 years as a common man, a carpenter, a son, a brother, a friend. In fact, His life had been so unremarkable, the town folk who knew Him and His family, who had watched Him grow up questioned His ability to teach and took offense at Him. “And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household.’” Matthew 13:54-58.
So what made His life extraordinary? Was it what He did during His three years of ministry; His teaching, miracles, raising the dead? Was He less extraordinary making tables and chairs than He was on the cross? Hear the Father, “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’” Matthew 3:17-4:1. This was at the beginning of His ministry, before water turned into wine, before any healing miracle. He was a beloved Son and well-pleasing to His Father. He was also one with the Father. John 17:22. Being a Son and one with the Father enabled what appeared as an ordinary life to turn extraordinary. Hear Jesus’ words, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.” John 14:10 (NLT).
This gift of ordinary changes all who receive it! Listen to Jesus’ words, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” John 17:22-24. We are given His life, His glory, oneness with the Father, and being loved by God as Christ Himself!
Whether it be tending a sick loved one, cooking meals, washing dishes, fixing cars, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, changing diapers, working in an office, delivering the mail, a smile, an encouraging word, a cup of cool water, or so many other daily, common things, oneness with Christ changes it all into extraordinary. Let’s not miss out on seeing God and His blessings in the disguise of ordinary.
Scope Ministries 