Jim Moss - October 22, 2023
Part 3: Mundane
Streams in the Desert Mundane 10-22-23 One of the greatest lies of the enemy is trying to get you to believe that your ordinary, everyday faithfulness and obedience are not enough to bring about significant Kingdom impact. Matthew Blake Nelson Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the Lord says: Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, No, that’s not the road we want. We tend to want a Christian life with the dull bits cut out. Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane. ~ Thomas Keller Quietness Repetitiveness Monotony Mundane is the way Annie Dillard How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What is the mundane so hard to embrace? What does God want to teach me through the mundane? How do I embrace the daily grind of the mundane? Psalm 73:28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Rod Dreher Everdayness is my problem. It’s easy to think about what you would do in wartime, or if a hurricane blows through, or if you spent a month in Paris, or if your guy wins the election, or if you won the lottery or bought that thing you really wanted. It’s a lot more difficult to figure out how you’re going to get through today without despair. Psalm 17:13-15 Arise, O Lord! Stand against them, and bring them to their knees! Rescue me from the wicked with your sword! By the power of your hand, O Lord, destroy those who look to this world for their reward. But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones. May their children have plenty, leaving an inheritance for their descendants. Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied. The Path Acceptance – this is my life (It’s O.K.) Commitment to celebrate the ordinary (Everyday struggle) Invite others into the mundane