DAILY DEVOTIONAL – August 22, 2019
“A Very Ordinary Devotional”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as Your Word teaches us and as You proved through Your perfect and holy life and death on the cross, You did not come as the Son of God in order to be served, but to serve. Strengthen our faith Lord so that no matter what our position or circumstance in life, we may live first as Your servants and disciples, and in and through Your grace and mercy, as servants of our neighbor as well. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:17-20
Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. 18 For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now. 19 For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.
20 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you.21 Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. 22 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. 23 God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world. 24 Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.
Devotion – “A Very Ordinary Devotional”
Think back to your school days. Who were the A-listers whom you wanted to sign your yearbook? The captain of the football team? The homecoming queen or king? The student class president? The school janitor!?
Well, maybe you and I didn’t line up to get the janitor’s signature in our yearbook, I admittedly can’t remember who the janitor was in elementary school, but the students at Alan Shepard Elementary School will never forget their janitor. In fact, 100’s of the elementary students lined up to get Mr. Steve’s autograph in their yearbook.
And what did Mr. Steve the janitor do to achieve such rock star status amongst the students? For fifteen years, day in and day out, he’s just loved them, made himself accessible to them whenever they’ve needed help or encouragement. He laughs with them and cries with them. He takes care of their needs.
ABC News actually reported on the story and interviewed Mr. Steve and the school principal.
In the interview Mr. Steve the janitor said, ” I walked through the playground to get through the building and they saw me and started running,” he said. “You get one, you get all of them. Once they all got in line I sat down. I get along great with the kids. They are really great. We joke around a bunch and they’re able to talk to me and stuff like that.” Mr. Steve’s full name is Steve Weidner, a father of four of his own kids and father-figure to the kids at Alan Shepard Elementary.
In total, well over 300 elementary students lined up to have Mr. Stever sign their yearbook.
The school district posted a photo of the long line of second graders patiently waiting for Mr. Steve’s yearbook signature. The caption to the photo read, “Shepard Custodian Steve “Mr. Steve” Weidner has reached Rock Star status as he autographs yearbooks for his “fans!”
The principal Shirley Padera said in her interview, “The students count on Mr. Steve to be there when they need him,” principal Shirley Padera said. “They are comfortable asking for his help. Mr. Steve has good relationships with the students. Many of our children remain in the building for 5 years because our grade levels are kindergarten through 4th grade. They have many opportunities to interact with Mr. Steve.”
What makes this story so touching is not only the children’s admiration and love for Mr. Steve, but also the fact that not many people would imagine that the janitor, out of all the staff on campus, would become the most influential positive force in these students’ lives.
Mr. Steve made the most out of his job…and though I am by no means being demeaning here…Mr. Steve made the most out of a job that most people wouldn’t consider an occupation to aspire to. The role of a janitor is not in the limelight…it’s a servant position…and it’s the perfect position to make a huge impact.
You know my friends, there is no ordinary calling in God’s eyes. There is no occupation that is more impressive in the eyes of God than any other. Although the responsibilities were obviously different, and although carpentry was certainly part of Jesus’ occupation as a carpenter, the truth is Jesus was very much a janitor in his home town of Nazareth. He was the fix it up and clean it up guy. Jesus had a very ordinary occupation, but an extraordinary calling as the Son of God. For Jesus, everything He did in this life was only the means by which he tended to His first and highest calling; living faithfully before His Father in Heaven. And Jesus did just that. He lived a perfect faithful life, as a very ordinary, everyday person. Yes, He was indeed the Son of God who performed extraordinary miracles and taught the very Words of Life, but in His humanity, Jesus was no one to be sought after. Not only in His life as a man, but most importantly in His vocation and mission as the Son of God, Christ was a servant of all humanity as He was nailed to a cross in our place and for our sins. The prophet Isaiah describes Christ’s ordinary life but extraordinary sacrifice in chapter 53 when he writes:
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
My friends, no matter what your calling or station in life right now, whether you are in the position you always hoped you would be or feel like our being stifled and long for more, know and trust that God has you right where He wants you because there is no ordinary calling in God’s eyes. Every job, every talent, every occupation and station in life is fertile ground for the extraordinary work that God wants to do in and through you; just as Mr. Steve did for those elementary school kids. We all have an extraordinary calling.
This is what the apostle Paul means when he says in our text from 1 Corinthians, “24 Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.” That doesn’t mean we cannot and should not aspire to something more or take opportunities that arise. As Paul says using the occupation of a slave in Biblical times as an example, “21 Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it.” Paul’s point, and God’s point to us in His word, is that we should use every job and every station and season in our life to work hard in the extraordinary calling we all have as the children of God who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ and given the awesome privilege and opportunity to use whatever position we are in to spread the love and Word of Jesus.
How we live and work in the everyday, common and ordinary parts of life often make the biggest impact for the Kingdom of God. I love what Martin Luther had to say about the calling and vocation we all share regardless of our status or station in life:
“Every occupation has its own honor before God. Ordinary work is a divine vocation or calling. In our daily work, no matter how important or mundane, we serve God by serving the neighbor and we also participate in God’s on-going providence for the human race.”
You have been sent into the mission field my friends. God has called you as His discipled and commissioned you, you specifically in your specific situation, to minister to those around you.
God bless you my friends and fellow priests, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
