Throw Back Thursday (TBT) is when everyone takes to social media on Thursday and posts an old picture of themselves. We're going to go a slightly different direction and use TBT to post an old blog or article you might not have read the first time go around.
This past month, we've talked a lot about our journey with God - leaving the familiar, beginning with boldness and that awkward in between time. The series has resonated with a few, and I realized there are people wondering if they ought to be doing something other than what they're currently doing. It has raised questions about contentment and about purpose and more than a few questions about timing; so to help those who are more restless than ever, I give you a TBT from 2011...
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"The Glory of Obscurity"
Between all the responsibilities you already have and the opportunities for more activity that present themselves every day, you have an endless amount of potential - potential for significance, importance, notoriety, purpose and meaning in your life and in the lives of those around you. You have endless potential - especially as a believer in Jesus and a servant in His Kingdom. I believe that.
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| Worship in Obscurity |
Here's something else I believe - the modern church does a disservice to the Kingdom of God when we preach a Gospel of personal success and insatiable significance. In some ways, we've created a kingdom of people who are dissatisfied with any life less than wikipedia-worthy. Am I alone in this? Doesn't it sometimes seem like we've lost our ability to rest in knowing we are a pleasure to God when we have faith in Him, and sometimes that faith is in believing that right now, doing what you're doing, being who you are, is the delight of your Creator.
In 2011, Yahoo News reported that nearly 300 new species of sea creatures had been discovered in the Philippines and
according to LiveScience.com another 1060 new species had been found in New Guinea only a few years prior to that. Here we are approximately 6,000 years (if you believe in a young earth) into the life of planet Earth, and nearly 1400 species of creatures are just
now debuting their unique design to the world. For all these years, no
one has seen them, documented them, photographed them nor noted their
contribution to the eco-system. For 6,000 years they have been the hidden
delight of their Creator Who fashioned them, colored them, gave them purpose
and watched them live and die as part of His design.
These countless beautiful creatures left no perceivable mark on earth and yet they were a glory of their Creator. Like a psalmist who sings to an empty room, or an artist who paints the ceiling of their own home, a sculptor who fashions clay vessels for the cupboards of their own kitchen - these creatures were visible only by Him and for 6,000 years He alone knew their value and their beauty.
I wonder if any of them struggled with living up to their potential. Did they feel the weight of their own obscurity or simply delight in knowing they were fashioned by an infinite Creator Who smiled upon them in secret?
What if, like these creatures, I am ordinarily obscure to humanity and infinitely delightful to my Creator? What if no one ever remembers me past my own generation, and no one reads one word I pen in this lifetime? Am I comfortable being a glory to God in my obscurity? Can I sense the delight of God in my seemingly mundane existence? Am I not still a glory to God?
I'm not saying you shouldn't have a desire to do great things for God. Just don't exclude what you're doing right now as something great. Maybe He wants you to take the Gospel to an unreached people group. Just don't rule out that the unreached people group is on the other side of your privacy fence. You could make disciples of all nations, but you might only make disciples of the diaper-clad screamers down the hall. Whatever God wants you to do He will not only inspire, He will also unfold.
Maybe you have felt the pressure of becoming someone important or of creating a legacy that will outlive you. I pray that today whatever you're doing in your corner of the world - writing computer code, teaching, answering phones, fixing cars, wiping running noses, loving your family, being a kind neighbor - that you can sense the pleasure of God in who you are and in whatever you're doing in His name. Seemingly unnoticed by the world around you or forgotten by history, receive the great delight your Creator has in you, and simply live - live in your obscurity to the Glory and pleasure of God. His glory is our greatest potential.