Ordinary
Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World
- Christian Living
- Publisher: Zondervan Reflective (Zondervan)
- Published: 2014
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Publisher's Description
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.” Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What’s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it’s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace. Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul—not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it’s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.
Endorsements (4)
“I am tempted to say that this is no ordinary book. In a culture that rhapsodizes over every achievement and idolizes many of those who stand out, it is easy for the church to drink from the same intoxicating elixir and swoon over gifted exceptions. How refreshing to read a book that tries to locate spiritual and theological maturity in ordinary faith and obedience, in ordinary relationships, in ordinary service, in ordinary pastors. Michael Horton does not mean to depreciate believers with exceptional gifts, but he rightly warns us against erecting shrines to them — shrines that blind us to the glory of the gospel worked out in the faithful discipleship of ‘ordinary’ Christian living, shrines that make us forget we serve a God who will not give his glory to another. That we need a book like this is more than a little sad; the book that addresses the problem wisely and well is, frankly, extraordinary.”
“Michael Horton’s Ordinary is, well, extraordinary. It can be described in many ways, and one is this: a call to love God and neighbor in freedom and grace, in the neighborhood you already inhabit, with the gifts and talents (and weaknesses!) you already possess. Spiritual heroes need not apply.”
“In an age of ‘radicals’ always promising us the next best thing, Michael Horton wisely and winsomely points us to God’s faithfulness in the ordinary means of grace. In an era where everyone seems to have a nonprofit start-up that aims to the change the world, Horton reminds us of the joy found in ordinary, oft-unnoticed congregations where the Spirit dwells. In an age where everyone seems to be writing their memoir, Horton shows us that God delights in lives that quietly but faithfully care for lost souls. Forget ‘the next best thing’; God is at work in small, good things.”
“growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
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