Biblical Leaders: Ordinary People

I truly hope you have enjoyed reading these Biblical Leaders posts as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. If you’re just joining in I’d encourage you to go back and read through some of those.

If you’ve followed my journey you know that this idea of ordinary has carried a lot of weight for me over the years. If you haven’t really followed me and my journey, jump over and check out a blog I wrote called Being Known Instead Of Being Famous when you get a chance. It gives some of my origin story. (I know I’ve just asked you to read more but hopefully you’ve found value in these posts.) In that post I reference Acts 4:13. It says,

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (NIV)

If you were to read the bible cover to cover you, like many others, would probably come to the conclusion that everybody in that book except for that one guy was just as messed up as I am. In Acts 4, and actually through the gospels as well, the religious leaders had done everything they could to give themselves the appearance of anything but ordinary. They were put together and had rules to separate them from the rules to further distance them from anything that could appear to be “bad.” They desired to never come across as ordinary.

By contrast, Peter and John, and many others were very ordinary. In fact, God consistently called fishermen, shepherds, tax collectors, and the like to carry His mission. Due to that said contrast, the people in power wanting to stay in power, these ordinary people were considered the lowest of the low.

I don’t know about you but i don’t think I’ve ever felt like the lowest of the low but there aren’t many days that go by that i don’t feel ordinary. While that feels like a bad thing, everyone wants to feel special, I’ve learned it’s something worth celebrating. Over these past few months I’ve written about Peter, Moses, Jethro, Paul, Nehemiah, Joshua, John, Elijah, and more. All were Ordinary people that had an extraordinary encounter with God.

For us, I would like to leave us with the challenge to celebrate and embrace the ordinary. To step into the extraordinary calling God has placed on your life and leadership.

Remember this, we are destined for greatness, just not our own. Let us lead from that place!

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash