I like risks - preferably calculated risks, because I’d rather not be foolish. But I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I’m protected by a God who will always have my back. For instance, one time His people were hungry and had no way of getting food, so He had bread pop out of nowhere for them to eat. Another time, a man decided to obey God instead of the king and was consequently thrown into a pit with ferociously hungry lions for a night. So God shut the mouths of the lions, preventing them from eating him. THAT’S INSANE!! Seriously, when you really read the Bible, it’s nuts.
Caution: I am also the type of person who realizes this, and then looks for anything dangerous to throw myself into because God’s got my back, right?!? Ehh, kind of. I think out of His grace He’ll protect me in those situations more often than not, but I can’t take anything and claim it’s what God wants me to do. He might call me to dangerous things, but He also might not. What matters is that I am asking Him first and walking in His will. It’s only then that I don’t have to worry about taking risks because I know if God is leading me, He’s not going to take me somewhere just to drop me.
But what if I’m sitting here looking at my life and seeing that it is straight up boring? Like, so boring it makes an onion cry kind of boring. It seems as though the most impactful ways to live for Christ come in big stories – helping a homeless man off the streets; talking a friend out of suicide; forgiving the thief who took the life of a loved one. These are big things and not to be trivialized at all. But what if, right now, I’m looking at my life and realizing the most interesting thing that has happened to me is the strand of hair I found at the bottom of my Wendy’s frosty (true story). What am I doing wrong???
Counter question: Where is God? Right now, where is He? Fun fact: He’s with me. God doesn’t just show up for the big moments, He’s with me every day. He’s with me when I’m sitting in my room doing homework; He’s with me on my daily walk to class or drive to work; He’s with me when it’s Friday night and I want to go out and do something, but have absolutely no idea what that something is or if it even exists. God is there when I wouldn’t expect Him to be – in the mundane.
This to say, the way to show Christ to someone is not just in the big moments. If God is with us in the boring, that means we should do the same for others. It means that living life with people, whether or not it’s all that exciting, actually matters. In our every day lives we are being used by God in what I think is one of the most important ways – consistency. Your smile, your words, your asking about one’s day, your laughter, your tears – your presence matters.
Do you ever come home, turn on the lights and think, “man, I’m so grateful for electricity.” Having light in our homes is often taken for granted, but as soon as that light flickers, we immediately notice and pray it doesn’t go out. Why? Because even though we never express our gratitude for something so simple as light, we are actually quite desperate for it.
Matthew 5:14-16 tells us we are “the light of the world,” which sounds like a pretty big and exciting task. But then it compares us to a lamp, giving light to everyone in the house. One lamp can’t give light to the whole world, but millions of lamps, each shining on their own stand, can accomplish such a feat. We are the light of the world in the way we live and treat the people around us every day, exciting or not. People may take the light for granted while it’s there, but don’t be fooled, they’ll notice when it flickers. Your light, your life, it matters.
