Ordinary People

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 1st of November, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Mark 9:5:

“Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

You can’t live on top of the mountain. You see, when Peter, James and John experienced the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to His Heavenly Father and the visitation of Elijah and Moses, they were so overwhelmed. They didn’t want to go back down into the valley where all the day-to-day issues and problems faced them. They wanted to stay on the mountain, and you and I need to be very careful about that as well. We need to meet the people where they are at. You know the old saying, “Don’t become so heavenly-minded that you and I are no earthly use.” We need to touch base with the man in the street.

Do you know, they asked Martin Luther, the great reformer, “What would you do if you knew that the Lord was coming back tomorrow?” He said, “I would plant an apple tree today.” You see, in Germany, there are lots of apple orchards. They asked John Wesley, “If you knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was coming back tomorrow, what would you do today?” He said, “Well, it is 9 a.m., I have got a Bible study meeting in this village, and then I am going to get on my horse, Dobbin, and I am going to ride to the next village, and I am having lunch with a group of people there, then I will preach the Gospel in the evening…” In other words, what these two giants of the faith were saying was that we carry on living day to day.

God uses ordinary people. Look at the track record in the Bible. God used fishermen, shepherds, tent-makers, and He even used tax-collectors. Don’t lose touch with the man in the street. You know, I have just returned from a wonderful weekend as a speaker at a Mighty Men Conference in the central part of our beloved nation, South Africa. What wonderful people! Farmers and miners, just ordinary working folk like me. These people love Jesus in a simple yet profound way. It was so refreshing for me not to try to solve all the problems of the whole world, which we can’t do anyway, can we? Not so caught up with doctorates, theology - I mean, I can’t even spell the word - which have no bearing on living from day to day, putting bread on the table, finding employment, or working through marriage issues.

You know that after we had finished preaching on Saturday night, a group of us got together and watched the World Cup Rugby Final on television. What an experience! We were laughing, we were trying to tell the referee what to do, we were crying with joy and pain! Don’t lose touch with reality, even though we are passing through this world, even though we don’t belong here. That was the secret of the Master’s touch. That was Jesus’ touch, meeting with all people!

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.