We would line up on the wall of the gymnasium during PE class so the two people chosen captain could choose their teams. The process illuminated the athletic from the not so athletic. After the first two or three times of picking teams, a person could predict the order of being chosen as they stood against the wall. As one of the people who was not one of the first picks, I found myself questioning my ability and wondering if I would ever be chosen in the top ten. It was an emotional rollercoaster.
In our world, we tend to choose the best looking or the strongest or the most articulate. When a person feels they are not in the top ten in any of the normal categories it may be easy for them to consider quitting and not pursuing a calling or vision they’ve had for their life. The predominant view of gifted ability creates a sense of inadequacy and lack of motivation to pursue.
In the experience of the coming King, Jesus, we witness a lot of people who are lowly, humble, and not the world’s first picks. Yet, we discover they are the people who will lead us to amazing transformation in the world. In the third Sunday of Advent, one of the readings is Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55. Mary proclaims, “he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (51b-53).
In Jesus’ birth, we witness a hierarchical change as he is born to a lowly, humble virgin and her husband, a carpenter. We witness the shepherds being the first visitors and the humble manger as Jesus’ first bed. We witness the poverty of a couple who can only offer the two doves at purification—an offering of a person who cannot afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:8). They do not fit the expectation for the parents of the coming King. Yet, God called them. God equipped them. God empowered them. God chose them.
The same God who called, equipped, empowered, and chose these lowly people who no one would have imagined would play such an important role in salvation history is the same God who calls, equips, empowers and chooses us today. Though we may not see how God can use us or we may think ourselves not the right material to participate in the transformation Jesus brings into our world today, God still calls us and desires our obedience.
Our responsibility in obedience is to trust God in His call on our lives to play the part we have been given to play. When we consider our lives as a part of the greater story, we recognize the need for all parts to make the story come to its fullest fruition. Louie Giglio in his book, I Am Not, But I Know I Am writes, “God is always looking for ordinary people to play significant roles in His unfolding story” (29).
Let’s be ordinary people who when obedient to God, can do extraordinary things.
Prayer: Lord, I surrender my ordinariness to you because in your hands I can do extraordinary things. Give me the faith to follow you and not allow my thoughts of inadequacy to get in the way of the great things you want to do in my life and through my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.