Youth Pastor J. D. Barker, First Baptist Church of San Saba
My brother and I are very different from one another. He has always been the outgoing extrovert, and I am the quiet introvert. He has also been a thrill seeker since he was little. We would often find him on the roof of the house, doing back flips from an oak tree, or walking on his hands for hours at a time. He enjoyed life at a slightly faster pace than I did. The thing about thrill seekers is that they have a tendency to get bored. What once seemed exciting and dangerous, now feels safe and easy. So they seek the next big thrill.
I often see this type of thrill seeking within the church. Christians who grow tired of regular things crave newer, bigger, and better spiritual experiences; they want the spectacular. Going to Sunday worship week in and week out can become mundane for them. They think they need the next spiritual high to fill up their tank.
But constantly seeking extraordinary spiritual experiences isn’t the life that we have been called to. In fact, the Bible would suggest that the Christian life is one of regular, “mundane” daily living. We are called to gather with other believers every Sunday. We read from the same book each week. We pray. We sing. We see the same people. As believers, our weekly habit of worship is based upon simple repeating patterns. And we are called to do this as long as we live on this earth.
Other aspects of Christian living are also seemingly simple and repetitive in their need to be practiced day in and day out. The hard work of sanctification (the process of becoming more like Jesus) isn’t very glamorous. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We read, study, and memorize God’s Word. We serve others and consider them more important than ourselves. This isn’t rockstar Christianity. It is ordinary. It is daily faithfulness.
In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul instructs Christians that they must begin to “walk” in a new way. They put off old habits and put on new ones because they have been transformed by Jesus. This new way of living shows up primarily in our relationships with others. In chapters 5 and 6 of Ephesians, Paul explains that to live a transformed life means that you must sacrificially love your wife, you must respect your husband, children must honor their parents, parents must be gentle as they raise their children, employers must be kind to their workers and employees must work hard as for the Lord. In other words, act like Jesus to those around you.
This type of living probably won’t get you on national television or land you a Christian book deal. This isn’t the most spectacular thing, but it does please our Lord. Paul also said this in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands.”
If you want to go skydiving, that’s your business. But if you want to seek after the spiritual things that are important to Jesus, learn to love the regular, ordinary rhythms of faithful living. Love Jesus, love others, and after you get done skydiving, make sure you make it to worship on Sunday.