Join us on Sundays at 09h00

An ordinary person with an extraordinary calling by Deon Crafford

Philippians 2:19-24 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

The biggest developmental crisis an adult may face in our world, is the non-achievement of relevance, reverence or importance in our society, as judged by others. I have said this many times before, but here I have to again mention that social media has moved this issue to the very foreground in such a manner that it now becomes almost tragic to see how people are anxiously going about building their personal brand and promoting their reputation as someone worth knowing, quoting, emulating or following. This is one of the main reasons that retirement is such a loathsome prospect for many, as it strips them of the majority of roles, titles and affirmations that have kept them important and relevant in our world. And yet for others this transition is so freeing as it returns them to “ordinary” status and sets them up or reprograms them for a different contribution to the world. There are so many examples of ordinary folk doing extraordinary and meaningful things, that have far greater longevity than roles, titles and positions. 

Paul’s characterization of Timothy is of someone not seeking his own importance, but driven by serving the Gospel of Christ, no matter what it takes. He quite happily settles as Paul’s wingman and seemingly almost by mere circumstantiality becomes the first bishop of the Church at Ephesus, where he is eventually beaten to death by a procession of frenzied pagans. “For I have no one like him” does not appear right as the profiling of an ordinary man, and yet his extraordinary really lies in what he has committed himself to. Despite its forever superficiality or shallowness, even the secular world keeps recognising extraordinary people not by how much they achieved, but almost by how much they have sacrificed in serving a cause with far greater meaning than the instant gratification diet the world generally feeds on. People like Mandela, Gandhi, Mother Theresa and various “generals” of the Faith, spring to mind. None of them would be regarded as “just ordinary”, but all of them are seen for what they are because of the calling they served. 

And so it holds that in those moments (because trust me, they will come), when you, maybe despairingly, contemplate your low impact or ordinariness in this world, you be reminded that your real value lies not in the recognition of man. Your real value and extraordinary impact lies in living out the life and character of Someone whose extraordinary supercedes all of creation. The fact that this Someone has called me to His service, puts me beyond all the extraordinary parameters of the world. Ordinary I will remain, but extraordinary I will do. In the name of Jesus Christ.

Love to all

DC