One should not fault self, or God, about being an ordinary person – the common person. It is standard to feel unworthy – lack of ability or energy to distinguish oneself. Lincoln noted that: God must have loved the common man because he made so many of them. We do not extol the common person, being grateful that that is what one is – a common person. Lowly or exalted, persons may be afflicted with damning pride. Humility behooves us. Counselors find many achievers humble about achievements and others so proud they deny obvious limitations. To acknowledge one’s limitations, finding ways to get on well surpasses ordinariness. Handicapped persons often know this, and adapt so to achieve, and avoid too great need for assistance. One of the human yearnings is to be able to care for oneself. When that yearning is lost, the person is out of synch. High achievement in the world is not God’s measure of us – quality of life is the base.
The poet, W. H. Auden put it partially and magnificently from faith’s viewpoint:
Redeem for the dull the
Average Way
That common, ungifted
Natures may
Believe that their normal
Vision can
Walk to perfection.
This beautiful poem would have taken even higher flight – that neither the average person nor the gifted is to advantage, as far as God is concerned. Neither can, by great or limited vision, walk to perfection in this life. A new route, with understanding and motivation to take it, becomes God’s redemption. The poor and rich, the gifted and simpleton, the color and culture, the age and gender, or any other identity factor, will have nothing to do with whatever is perfect in any person – in life or in death. All the measurements we make mean nothing, except as we attach them to functioning in human life course. This is transitory, created for our purposes in a sojourn of nature, for good or ill in earth’s temporary objectives. Faithfulness is at the top of the list for God. Achievement and talent are somewhere down the list, but even those are related to faithfulness to what God deals to us. What of hereafter? In competition, faithfulness beats accomplishment.
One wonders if the world of humankind grasps that the way to ideals is through God, based on the genuine faith of those who look beyond mortal life. The award may seem too expansive for so little personal cost – genuine faith in Jesus Christ for that salvation to ultimate perfection, beyond nature. This is an unearned gift. On one hand God calls for excellence, and he provides it. He knows we are weak, incapable of his standards. The source, in God, is like unto that of a loving parent for his or her child, related to each child and separate from siblings. God’s plan cannot be altered. Acknowledged, it requires repentance and surrender. It means spiritual birth, which is to be born again. It adds considerable obligation to life change related to faith, love, prayer, service/work, and obedience to God. Humility helps. All matters of importance to these are addressed in Scripture, and the Holy Spirit comes alongside to assist in the enlightenment of conscience and urge to prepare now for the future (hereafter). To gain God’s rightness for us relates to spiritual maturity which is the road pointing toward perfection. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020