Ordinary


Mat 11:25  Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven 

	and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, 

	but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. 


	It's so very impressive to hear someone speak with eloquence, presenting 

themselves as having the answer to everything. All their gestures and facial 

expressions may reflect a practiced and coached knowledge of proper speaking 

technique. Listening and watching them may be reason enough for many to just 

believe and follow, without knowledge of who they are beyond the performance of 

their speech. By showing themselves off as having a better and smarter way of 

doing everything, they are actually persuasive in drawing followers to a way 

that is void of true wisdom and understanding from above. It's interesting from 

this passage, however, that it is most likely that the one who sets out to be a 

superior intellect is lacking true understanding in the ways of the Lord. The 

choices and decisions they will make, though intellectually explained, will have 

no clear revelation from God. 


	While Jesus was full of knowledge and understanding in every area of life, 

and though He was able to convincingly present the ways of God most effectively, 

there was something about His demeanor that set Him apart from the sophisticated 

know-it-alls of the temple. He didn't try to just impress everyone with His 

superior performance in order to get them to like and follow Him. His 

motivation, first of all, was not the promotion of Himself, but the deliverance 

and freedom of all the lost and suffering people He encountered. For them to 

just be impressed with Him and any lofty phrases He could muster wouldn't be 

what they would really need to set them free. They needed to be touched and 

spoken to in a way that would bring substance and reality of their potential 

relationship with their heavenly Father. Jesus had no aspirations of being able 

to merely leave them with an impression of His higher knowledge; He wanted to 

leave them with possession of knowledge and understanding themselves. It would 

be the speaking with ordinary communication, stories and illustrations that 

would be most effective in taking people beyond the wall of impression to the 

well of salvation. Though He was most extraordinary, He was able to spell out to 

the ordinary people around Him a clear way to the Father. 


	There is a never-ending volume of knowledge to be attained and understood 

in pursuing the ways of God. As it begins to be acquired and as there is an 

ability to present it to others, there is a necessity that the motivation for 

both obtaining it and presenting it is a simple desire to take the Gospel of 

life to the ordinary person in a way that will clearly show the way to the 

Father. If there begins to be a motivation of self-promotion and if it becomes 

more important that they be impressed with a show of superiority, there will 

actually be concealment from us of true understanding of God Himself.  In order 

to continue to qualify for the really good stuff of eternity, it must be that we 

remain among the ordinary in our own self-analysis, just motivated by a pure 

desire to show the glory of God, free from human obstacles. It is the Father's 

desire to work with simple understanding that is quite common and well received 

by anyone, where it is Him who is getting all of the recognition and glory. 


	To know Him more, to grow in understanding of His ways and live a life of 

holiness, purity and success before Him is a worthy purpose. The true reality of 

this growing understanding, though, will only take place in the classroom of the 

ordinary and in the atmosphere of the humble. His ways are only written in the 

language of the ordinary so that motivations other than revealing Him will come 

to nothing of substance. The pressure is off, we don't have to rise to the next 

level and ascend to know-it-all status in order to be significantly effective in 

the kingdom. Our pursuit can simply be an uncomplicated, ordinary endeavor to 

see and show the Father.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       



10/04/04