Glory In The Ordinary

Introduction:

Last weekend, the OSU Buckeyes gave the Georgia Bulldogs their best shot.

The Buckeyes were never even supposed to be in this game. On paper they didn’t stand a chance. Many question how they even made it into the CFP. They knew if they stood any chance at all they would have to give Georgia their best shot. And that is exactly what they did.

Before the year gets rolling, I want to challenge you to give this year/semester your best shot.

There will be ups and down. There will be frustrations. There will be periods of time that you’d rather be anywhere but here.

But can I just encourage you? Give it (school) your best shot!

Transition: If you are going to give it your best shot in 2023, you are going to have to change your mind set on how you see your work/school. You are going to have to begin seeing your work the way God sees your work.

The work of Paul

The work of Peter

The work of Jesus

Marshall Segal said this,

Each of them altered history with their ministry (and none more than the God-man). Each of them also spent much of their life doing ordinary, even tedious work (perhaps even more ordinary than what lies before you). And each of them knew that work like theirs, done well, is anything but ordinary.

Transition: How do we perform our ordinary work in such a way that brings greater meaning and to your life, and more glory to God? How can we change the way we think about our work?

Man Goes Out To Work

We would do our work differently next year, wouldn’t we, if we could see even our ordinary work through the wider eyes of God. So where could we go to see what God sees in our work? I love the glimpses we get in the wild and wondrous world of Psalm 104.

This Psalm, like so many others, is meant to awaken joy in our souls.

*Read the entire Psalm and comment on all of the glorious things you notice*

Man goes out to his work and puts in a full day… anticlimactic, right?

Manifold Work of God

Marshall Segal said this,

The ordinary work of man is one of the manifold works of God. Your work is one of the manifold works of God. No other creature on the planet can do what you do. What you can do in an hour or 2 or 8 with your mind and hands and gifts says as much or more about God as a sunset or a canyon or thunderstorm. Do you believe that? Do you work like it’s true?

Every working human you meet (white collar or blue collar; paid or unpaid; student, employee, manager, or stay-at-home mother) is a living canvas covered in the wisdom and creativity of God — whether they believe in him or not, whether they see the glory in their work or not. That they can do what they do, whatever they do and however well they do it, reminds us of just how much more God can do.

God’s Pleasure in Your Work

It doesn’t say that we rejoice in the work of the Lord, He rejoices in his own work!

Again, Marshall Segal said this...

The God of the universe genuinely enjoys the universe he’s made — the one we get to live and work in every day, the one he designed as a gift for his Son (Hebrews 1:2). He rejoices to see what normal humans can do in a day — and all the more so when that work rises from a heart set on him. Even when everyone else seems to completely overlook what we’ve done, he sees and he smiles, because he sees the dim, but brilliant reflection of his own work.

So, as you prepare for another year of work — perhaps hard, perhaps thankless, perhaps “ordinary” — ask God to help you see the work through his eyes. Ask him for some of the pleasure he takes in what you do.

GLORIFY GOD IN THE ORDINARY

At times this school year is going to be difficult, ordinary, and even boring.

But guess what? That is life.

Learn now to see your works through the eyes of God. Know that he delights in your work - work for Him.