FBC Daily Devotional – January 28, 2021

The Lord Uses Ordinary People

Well, a good Thursday to you. Here we are on the downside of another week. Actually, the downside of a month, isn't it? We're getting close to the end of January and I'm frankly looking forward to that.

I appreciate seeing the winter months fade into the past. Not that I'm in a hurry for time to go by, but you know what I mean. You know how I feel. I think if you, too, struggle with the cold and you don't like shoveling snow and all the rest of that stuff that winter brings with it.

Nevertheless, I got to tell you this, though. As much as I might be inclined to complain about the cold and the snow, occasionally my wife and I'll go out for a walk in this cold weather. We go down by a river.

We have that river walk in a park near us and go walk for a couple of miles. And it's really quite refreshing, even though the cold stings the cheeks. I have to appreciate that. I'd rather, much rather, walk outside even in the bitter cold than to walk on a treadmill, but that's just me.

Well,.

You remember those class officers that you had in high school? Maybe if you went to a public high school, I did. And, you know, we had to vote, you know, the student body voted for the student body president and vice president and these different officers and so forth.

And.

There was always this campaigning between a few different kids. You notice who never got elected? The average, run-of-the-mill kid that nobody paid attention to. Who gets elected? It's the one that is deemed most popular, that's most charismatic or whatever.

Yeah, the ordinary, common kid who just goes to school, does his schoolwork, gets his homework, does his grades, turns in his homework, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, he's not picked to be the student body president.

It's Mr. Popular, the most likely to whatever, or the Miss whatever. You know, you get my point. But when you read the list of names in Matthew chapter 10, it's in our reading for today, you read a list of a dozen names of men that were just really common men.

No one outside of their immediate family, their immediate circle of acquaintances, would have known them or really paid them any attention. I suppose the only exception to that might have been Matthew the tax collector.

You know, people in his town would have known Matthew the tax collector and they wouldn't have been too happy with him because of his occupation of taking their taxes. But the rest of them are, you know, they're just common people, you know, fishermen, you know, so forth.

Nothing outstanding, nothing exceptional about them. How do we pick leaders, people we want on our team? We opt for those that are the popular ones, the ones that are the most powerful or intelligent or talented, the ones that we think that we think will get the job done.

They'll do the thing that we want, you know, the thing to be done. Isn't it interesting how the Lord just takes these common, ordinary men and he works with them, he teaches them, he molds them, he shapes them over the period of his earthly ministry until when he's about to ascend into heaven, 11 of these 12, Judas Iscariot accepted, 11 of these 12 are delegated the responsibility of going into all the world and proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

That's an incredible, incredible thing to think about. Common, ordinary men. I'm thankful that our God of grace chooses and uses common, ordinary, everyday people, sinners all,.

Uses us.

God’s Grace in Choosing and Using Believers

But he, but he, our Lord, makes us useful and effective in his service. If you feel inadequate sometimes, you feel, yeah, like, who am I, you know, what am I? Well, if God in his grace has saved you and made you his child,.

Then.

Common, ordinary, everyday person or not, you can be one whom God chooses to use in your sphere of influence, in your vocation, whether it's a homemaker, a teacher, a homeschool teacher, a teacher in the classroom, an office worker, a factory worker, a medical professional, doesn't matter, doesn't matter what your occupation,.

How.

Esteemed in this world or not, God in his grace has chosen you and he will equip you and use you to accomplish his purpose for your life. Oh, be grateful for that amazing grace of our wonderful God. Thank you, Father, that you take ordinary people like we are, ordinary people like Peter and James and Andrew and John and these other men who are really kind of obscure people and yet you have turned the world upside down through them.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for being, for taking us and using us as we are, molding us and shaping us into what you want us to be for your honor and glory. Use us to that end, we pray, in Jesus name and for his sake.

Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust God will bless you in it. Good day.