What is a normal, everyday Christian capable of and expected to do in the kingdom of God, the church?

I don’t think we define it concretely enough.

Do they have to

  • ingest one Christian book a month,
  • study the Bible everyday devotionally (and intermittently, theologically),
  • pray,
  • be involved in “ministry” at their local “church building” community
  • and outside the “church building” in their particular civic community,
  • show up for church every Sunday,
  • be involved in a small group,
  • journal,
  • etc?

What does it really mean to be a spiritually involved person?

What does it mean to be an active participant in the expanding spiritual kingdom of God in this world?

And particularly for the normal, everyday human being?

How much stuff is too much?

\What is reasonable, sustainable, appropriate, etc?

When are we supposed to just live and recognize God is entirely okay with that…actually more than okay than we think?

Perhaps our lives (normal and everyday as they are) are the labratory of God’s kingdom.  Perhaps the daily decisions we make as God’s special people actually bring about his kind of kingdom (or world).  Perhaps we shouldn’t lump a lot of really good, “spiritual” thing on people, but teach and instruct a viable “kingdom-living ethic”, modeled after the pattern of Jesus (who being in very nature God…).  Maybe then we will truly be exercising God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

Pastors, in particular, seem to do a marvelous job living beyond what a normal, everyday person has the time (realistically) to handle.  It’s not necessarily bad, it’s actually fairly good to be able to have the time to devote to the spiritual life in order to lead people through their spiritual lives… but I wonder if pastors are supposed to be modeling a “daily living, everyday/normal, kingdom ethic” as well?

What are people “seeing” modeled in the normal, everyday life of their pastor?

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I see Love and walking like Jesus walked in our Pastors lives. Thanks guys for who you are in the Lord

  2. Excellent blog Jeremy! I look forward to your future posts.

    What is a normal, everyday Christian capable of and expected to do? The word “Christian” means little anointed one. So, I’d say the answer to that question is the be a genuine Christian. This means living with a heart filled up with God’s anointing and love. That can happen in different ways — but cannot be sustained without prayer and the Word. The infilling requires some measure of solitude. It works differently for different people — but we can discover a pattern that works for us, if we seek intently.

    Secondly, a normal everyday Christian is to let the anointing flow to others. “He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, etc.” This means that other people can truly experience God’s love and blessing flowing through us. T
    This is what it means to be a Christian in the everyday parts of life, when the pressure is on, and requires a right attitude. Love one another. If we pray, “God, make me a blessing today”, He will answer that prayer — 100%!

    I take some exception to your last paragraph. Many pastors do not live beyond the laity when it comes to personal spiritual practices. I travel and speak to pastors, and find the majority to be overstressed, overworked and overwhelmed. The many demands of ministry actually mitigate AGAINST the very thing we tell others to do.

    What I’ve discovered is that the ONLY way I can face the many, multifacted demands on my daily schedule is to start the day filled up with God. There is no other alternative that works — especially when you’re dealing with people’s souls, lives and relationships. I cannot give what I do not possess.

    I had to learn, through the crucible of painful experience, that I cannot survive without keeping my soul filled — and had to adjust my daily schedule (getting up a lot earlier – a time-discipline issue) in order to accomplish it. I had to say “no” to lesser things and “yes” to the best. I’ll never go back — and believe that regardless of how busy a person’s schedule is, it is absolutely essential to take the time to nurture the soul.

    Every person has to find out what works for him/her — but if we have time to eat, shower, facebook and watch tv, then we certainly have time to hear from heaven.

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