After I had written my last blog this concept was everywhere. The idea of living a life so consumed by Jesus people stop to wonder what’s different.
When we arrived in Cambodia I had expectations of what ministry would look like, of what these 2 months would be, or just what God had for me here. Thailand was so life changing and I was ready for Cambodia to live up to that same standard. When we had our meeting to talk about ministry schedules, my teammate and I found out that for the first little while we would be in the kitchen helping cook 3 meals a day for the 40+ people on our squad. That was not how I had envisioned my time here. I was expecting to build relationships with Khmer people, to play with kids in river communities, or to change the atmosphere of Battambang. You can’t do that from a kitchen. Surely, God didn’t send me 8,000 miles away from home to cook. I could be doing that in the states.
But, in typical God fashion, He had bigger plans that just cooking.
In hindsight, I can see just what God was teaching me through serving my squad by cooking. He was reminding me that living out His normal doesn’t always mean extravagant or epic. Again, His normal is striving to be called Holy and blameless, living everyday as to be like Jesus. Jesus didn’t live His life seeking approval or seeking attention. He lived out His calling in the humblest of ways. He lived His life so well that it was infectious, others wanted what He had.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
“and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders”
As I was cooking yesterday, this verse became so much more relevant. Lead a quiet life. Quiet doesn’t mean boring, average, or ordinary. It means being humble, showing Christ in small actions, living a life of grace and kindness. Finding joy in the simple things. Going to the market every morning and smiling at the lady who sells produce, laughing with the man who sells eggs, building a relationship with the tuk tuk driver, or eating fruit with the woman at the laundromat. Actively remembering that what might seem small or insignificant, could be what God uses to influence the lives around me. It doesn’t take a grand gesture to lead someone to Christ; but instead, living a quiet life reflecting His character.
That’s an easy concept to grasp but sometimes difficult to execute. In a world of affirmation, attention, and instant gratification, living a quiet life is not what we strive for. But that’s where God comes in. Being so consumed with Him changes our desires to line up with His. He takes our longing for epic and extravagant and gives us so much joy in real life situations. When we are focused on Him and what He has in store, our heart changes from this world to the next. Instead of frantically comparing and chasing after what everyone else is doing, we get to relax in confidence knowing that living a quiet life is the ‘normal’ God calls us to live out.
