Embracing our Ordinary “Ness”

Today, I would like to offer some reflections on a post I wrote near the beginning of this blog.

God Uses Ordinary People is a message I have preached on many times. When the post went live, it did not attract much traffic.

But recently this changed.

Little by little, the post received more traffic. Each week and month, it would pick up more and more readers. Recently it hit number one all time, with hits on this post literally every day.  This is a picture of steady incremental growth.

The words “ordinary” and “God uses ordinary people” appear in my google search results.

The post is based on the passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about an extra ordinary power cloaked in the common so God gets the glory.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” ( 2 Cor. 4:7)

I think there are several reasons why this post resonates with people.

1. Most of us feel very ordinary. Gospel centered people know they are not superstars, feeling as if  they are something special.  Proud and self-absorbed people aren’t looking for God to use the ordinary, they will attempt to succeed based on their own talent or wisdom. The gospel promotes the ordinary becoming extra-ordinary.

2. To embrace the gospel requires a declaration of need. The gospel lends itself to those of us who feel unqualified, but rely on God to give us strength in our weakness.

3. There is a comfort in God using the ordinary. It gives hope. We have enough bad news out there, this offers a truth people want to embrace.

4. There is a hope that as we declare our weakness, God through His strength can do something of significance in spite of our shortcomings. Most jobs require an application selling our qualifications. God accepts us with our deficiencies and allows us to grow where we are at.

This is a message which is connecting with where people are at. The proof is in the traffic.

To read the full original post, Click here.

Otherwise, feel free to add reasons why you believe this truth connects with people.
Are there other reasons you would offer as to why this is resonating?