The Awesome and the Ordinary

As a long-time baseball fan, I’m happy when spring training takes place each year. Truth is, fans enjoy spring training more than players do. For us it means the beginning of a new season and the hope that our team will make the playoffs next fall. For the players it means sore muscles, team meetings, and playing games where won-lost records mean nothing. Yet the players understand that if they are going to perform well when the games count, they need to practice well before the bright lights come on. World Series champions reap in the autumn what they sow in the spring.

Most of life is ordinary, not honorary. Familiar routines, not fame and recognition, fill our days. A pesky alarm clock interrupts our dreams. The car breaks down at inopportune times. Accolades don’t pile up; dishes, laundry, and bills do. Most of life doesn’t take place on the mountaintop or in the deepest valley, but somewhere in between, on the rolling hills of the daily grind.

For those who are willing to recognize it, God infuses eternal significance into our daily routines. From David tending sheep to Peter catching fish, from Lydia selling purple cloth to Priscilla making tents, God can weave divine purpose into ordinary work. It’s possible to see the grand in the midst of the grind.

A Great Love

In the book of Deuteronomy (which means “second law” or “repetition of the law”) Moses reminded the Israelites to obey the words God revealed on Mount Sinai. At the heart of God’s revelation was the shema (Hebrew for “hear”). “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Jesus called this the greatest commandment in the entire law of Moses (Matthew 22:37).

Our predominant assignment in life is to love God! The shema calls us to engage our whole selves in the process. Loving God is more than an emotion. It requires an act of the will—a decision to honor the Creator physically, intellectually, and emotionally. When we walk with him and learn from him, love for God weaves its way into our day-to-day lifestyle. The awesome mixes with the ordinary. The mundane becomes missional. God infuses divine purpose into the commonplace.

A Practical Assignment

Immediately after the grand pronouncement about loving God comes instruction about how to apply it in our homes. “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6:6). Someone has said, “We must get the Bible off the shelf and into the self.” Even under the old covenant, outward obedience wasn’t enough. God wants us to serve him from our hearts.

How should parents handle God’s commands? “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (v. 7). Practical everyday situations—even how we dress and decorate our homes (vv. 8, 9)—create opportunities to express our love for God and shape the worldview of our children.

Loving God is a lofty ideal, but it requires faithfulness in not-so-lofty areas. You won’t love God on the spiritual mountaintops unless you love him in the routines of daily life. If you hope to win the World Series, don’t mess around during spring training.

QUESTIONS:

1. How do you see God at work in the routines of your daily life?
2. What steps are you taking to help the next generation love God?