Ordinary + Anointing = Extraordinary
The airline attendant helped the young man wearing sunshades to his seat in first class. Blind since birth, Justin was oblivious to the stares of the surrounding people. The gentleman seated next to him spoke a quiet hello as Justin reached to put on his headset. Justin was too absorbed in his music to hear the whispers of the boarding passengers. If Justin could have only seen or heard, he would have realized that he was seated next to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Four rows back Alyce, a mother of three small children, was deep in thought. She had recently been diagnosed with a rare condition and there were only two doctors in the world who could help her. Unknown to her, she was seated next to one of those doctors. Both Justin and Alyce could totally miss a great opportunity because in the midst of their ordinary life they were blind, deaf, or ignorant of what was right within their reach. The ordinary blinds us to the obvious. Jesus came to his own country and taught in their synagogue. The people were astonished at his wisdom and mighty works but they were blinded by the ordinary. They could only see the person that had grown up in their midst. “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary?” They were offended that such an ordinary person was being used by God. (Matthew 13:54-58) When Samuel came to anoint a son of Jesse to be king in place of Saul, he was expecting the extraordinary. When he saw Eliab he said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed.” But God said, “Do not look at his appearance or how tall he stands for I do not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance but I look at the heart.” Instead of the one who looked the part, God chose David who was the youngest and was herding the sheep. God ANOINTED this ordinary young boy and he became a great king. When God takes the ordinary and pours out His anointing on it, the ordinary becomes a powerful instrument of God. We must recognize the anointing. We must not be ignorant of the anointing. Anoint means to rub with oil or smear over with oil. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit therefore when God anoints someone it simply means that their ordinary is now coated in God’s extraordinary. Example: If I took a simple toothpick and coated it in pure 24 carat gold, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Every person was fashioned by God to be a vessel that He can flow through. There is an anointing for every person. Examples of the anointing: There is an anointing to fill an office in the Body of Christ (pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle, evangelist). There is an anointing to fill a position in the Body of Christ. (psalmist, administrator, musician, door greeter, bus driver, etc.) There is an anointing for every act of obedience. There is an anointing on churches. There is an anointing for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate in and through people. There are unique individual anointings (artist, writer, farmer, etc.). There are places I do not minister because they do not draw upon the anointing on my life; therefore, I have nothing to offer them except an ordinary person. It is a paradox. You have to treat an ordinary person as if they are special if you want to receive the anointing God has on their life. Our human nature looks for extraordinary people but God is looking for ordinary people who know how to cooperate with the anointing to do extraordinary things. Even people who we consider to be extraordinary are really ordinary people who walk in line with their purpose and the anointing. The anointing can blind us to the ordinary. I always try to help people see the difference between the anointing on my life and me as an ordinary person. I want them to be very impressed by the anointing and to honor that anointing but at the same time I want them to realize that it is the anointing that makes this ordinary person do extraordinary things. If they realize that truth then they will realize that they qualify to be used of God. |