Entering the Ordinary

I ended the last post with an invitation to an eternal kind of life, one worth living forever. You might ask just what kind of life is that, do I want it, and could I even have it considering the way I live now? Wouldn't it just be too much effort to change the way things are going? Is it even possible?

I argue that it is not only possible, but it's been done. Jesus lived it. He came not only to show us how to live an eternal life, not only to grant us access to it, but also to prove that it is doable.

If Jesus were to come today he could very well do what you do. He could very well live in your apartment or house, hold down your ob, have your education and life prospects, and live within your family, surroundings, and time. None of this would be the least hindrance to the eternal kind of life that was his by nature and becomes available to us through him. Our human life, it turns out, is not destroyed by God's life but is fulfilled in it and in it alone.

Rather than ask the question "what would Jesus do?" I prefer to ask "what COULD Jesus do." He lived as a carpenter for 30 years. And he did so perfectly. He lived a perfectly fulfilling, satisfying, rewarding, abundant, eternal life... as a small-businessman.

Sure, three years of his life were spent teaching revolutionary concepts that have affected more of the world than any other thoughts, words, or actions known to man. Sure, he ended up fulfilling his God-role as perfect replacement sacrifice in the most gruesome and painful death an empire could devise. Sure, he had God's spirit descend on him like a dove, he transformed matter, and he created food out of thin air. But those first 30 years... he lived the same life you and I possess, and he did it in such a way that, when he was called upon to save the world, he was ready.

The well kept secret of the "ordinary" is that it is made to be a receptacle of the divine, a place where the life of God flows. But the divine is not pushy.

Have you ever considered that? Have you ever considered that you were created simple only to become beautifully complex as you interact in the machinery of God's world? 

This is why everyone, from the smallest child to the oldest adult, naturally wants in some way to be extraordinary, outstanding, or making a unique contribution.

We have the natural desires. We cannot deny them. We want to be SOMETHING, no matter what that something is. We know we are meant for more. We were meant for the life eternal. We were meant to reside in a place where the life of God flows. Want to hear more?

The drive to significance is a simple extension of the creative impulse of God that gave us being. We were built to count, as water is made to run downhill. We are placed in a specific context to count in ways no one else does. That is our destiny. 

I could stop writing here, and it would be sufficient for the entirety of the work. We have found our purpose, our destiny. It is to create, to thrive, and to be unique. It is to experience God every day. It is to live life in union with him and in expression of the individual design plan each of our lives has. I could stop writing here, but that would be a mistake because finding out our purpose is just the first step to living it. Didn't someone recently ask (see previous posts) "what's the point of knowing good if you won't actually become good?" Life is a journey, my friends, and we are about to enter into it on a whole new level.