The Faithful (Normal) Christian

"So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Like 17:10

A faithful Christian life is normative. It's like a spider weaving a masterful web; it's an amazing act, but it's also not unusual. If you stopped to examine it, you'd be amazed. But you probably don't stop to examine the web because spider webs are a dime a dozen. They are normal. Christian living is too. 

Too often we trip ourselves up by believing either we or someone else is special. 

It's probably obvious that thinking you are special leads to all kinds of trouble, but one way I've noticed it troubles us is that we start to expect more than we should. 

We expect more from others and more from God. When we don't receive it, we are more easily offended, more likely to complain. 

I recently paid Meg to do a chore, which was exciting as she dreamed of all she would buy with her shiny quarters. The next day, I said, "Meg come unload the dishwasher." 

"What are you going to pay me?" 

We catch on real fast to the idea that we ought to be paid, treated special for doing what we are supposed to do every day just because we happen to be in this family. 

We treat other Christians as though they are special, and this most obviously leads to a failure to act like them. We set them off in a category all their own: "I'm so impressed, but she's that way because that's just who she is." 

We assume it's not hard for them like it is for us. 

We assume they aren't tempted as we are. 

We assume they don't know what it's like to be us. 

We assume they are special Christians, and we can't be expected to act like special Christians. 

The truth is, no one is that special. We are all just living the Christian life, and faithful Christian obedience is normal. And we, like children look at something normal and think, "Look at this hard, special task I'm accomplishing." Chances are, we have actually only done what was our duty.