Transformation Tuesday: Ordinariness is Next to Godliness
In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book The Brothers Karamazov, the intelligent middle brother Ivan admits that he loves people in the abstract, but not actual people:
“The more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he’s too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.”
Loving and serving actual people is hard; loving an idea is quite easy. Practicing virtue is hard; virtue signaling is easy. Modern people are bored, and we are bored because we are shallow and lack virtue. The modern cure for boredom is distraction and excitement. In an arguably selfish and shallow culture, we’ve never been more outraged and righteous about all the evils all over the world.
If we come into the church looking for distraction, excitement, entertainment, and good feelings, then we are not seeking after God and his righteousness. Christ offers us a life of ordinary faithfulness. He wants us to commit to the body of Christ, clean the bathrooms, befriend the unlovely, read our Bibles every day, and come to Sunday school (yes, you should come to Sunday School!)
It’s through the ordinariness that the extraordinary righteousness of God can grow in our lives. The extraordinary things may happen eventually, but even then they will be rare. The apostle Paul’s exciting adventures apparently happened in the evenings after making tents all day. Abraham and Sarah experienced extraordinary encounters with God, but most of their lives were spent hauling water and keeping the tents clean.
Keeping up with all the latest movies and going on exotic vacations distract us for awhile, but only ordinary faithfulness in our everyday duties will ease the boredom and unhappiness. Ordinariness is a gift from God and the path to transformation. Church, make commitments, start serving, and be faithful. It will give you an extraordinary life.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2 ESV