Stop trying to do the impressive.
As if God needs something big.
Take the ordinary life you’re already doing, and do it in his name. In his power. In his presence. Give it to him. Thank him for it. Worship him in it. Acknowledge him in it, and you never know, he just might add to the agenda.
But the great lives aren’t great because of the size or the scope of their activity; it’s the Name in which they do it. It’s the worship that our day-by-day lives reveal.
I was so encouraged by the word from Robbie Johnson this past weekend, especially when he told the story of Jael the general-slayer. I’ve always been intrigued by the story of this courageous woman who nailed a stake through the skull of the wicked general Sisera. Yet it became practical when he described just how ordinary this task would have been. Just like every other nomadic woman, she had been hammering tent pegs for decades.
And then he said it: Keep hammering.
Man, that connected.
Keep seeking the face of God. Keep praying for the nations. Keep affirming your kids. Keep massaging your wife’s feet. Keep studying the Scripture. Keep opening your home. Keep making breakfast for the family. Keep taking your spouse out on a date. Keep submitting your singleness to God. Keep inviting your agnostic friend to church. Keep telling your daughter she’s beautiful. Keep believing in a book of Acts church. Keep asking for an awakening of the Spirit in your city. Keep telling your husband he’s the man. Keep throwing the ball with your son. Keep praying for the sick to be healed. Keep going to the gym. Keep giving money in secret. Keep desiring the best spiritual gifts. Keep fighting cynicism. Take your hammer, take your peg, and keep swinging.
Don’t stop. Don’t grow weary. You won’t be sorry.
There is nothing like a long devotion in the same direction.
And when you feel like you can endure no more, look “to Jesus … who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated by the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
