I sometimes imagine Jesus in a Starbucks in New York.

He tweets,

I am the light of the world, no one comes to the Father but through Me. #FollowMe

Within seconds, billions of people read and retweet from smartphones on every continent.

I mean – imagine Jesus did a TED talk! It would break. the. internet.

He could live-stream the Sermon on the Mount to stadiums across the globe.

If I was the Father, I might have sent the Son now. I might have leveraged the 21^st century.

And I wouldn’t have picked most of the obscure, ordinary people in the Bible, if I was the Creator-King trying to spread my name and my fame.

I wouldn’t have used backwater nobodies. Random shepherds. Rough fishermen. I would’ve used influencers and frontrunners. Big names shaping culture.

But He’s the last-shall-be-first God of upside-down Kingdom and He can leverage obscurity. He can leverage ordinary. He gets glory from ordinary obscurity.

So instead, Jesus arrived in a quiet corner of history.

Sure, the Roman Empire was rapidly and ironically building the roads that would carry His message to the known world and beyond.

But it’s as if God was saying,

I don’t need big bands, or bandwidth. I’ll use a girl. A stable. Some filth. Right about –

Now.

I’ll use some grassy hillsides and some villages and sometimes I’ll slip unseen through the crowd.

And I will change the world, and the eternal destiny of the human race.

If you’re anything like me, you’re 5% aptitude, 95% keen. Thank God, He sees the keen. He sees the small raw talent and the eagerness to obey – and He uses that for His greatness.

So God can leverage our ordinary, obscure capacity. Our ordinary, obscure lives. He can use us to bring world-changing hope.

By leverage I mean –

God gives us opportunities and we can use them – deploy them – to make the world a better place. Our potential is unlocked when we start saying,

God, I want to leverage all that I have – all that I am – all that I do – for Your Kingdom and Your glory.

Our capacity is unleashed when our waking thoughts are –

Coffee.

Then –

Jesus, maximize my life today, for Your maximum glory. Help me make the most of every opportunity. Suck all the splendour You can from my life today. Whatever that may look like.

God’s maximum glory from my life or yours on any given day might not look like a Big Measurable Success – even though we think,

God, surely You’ll get a lot of glory from a Big Measurable Success?

Not necessarily. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Trust Him to best position you for His best use.

Leverage is what has you going,

I want to be prepared for whatever God has planned. These are my passions. This is my gifting. This is the burning idea on my heart that’s just not going away and I think it may have something to do with my life’s work.

So, I’m not waiting for the big break. I’m doing the Next Right Thing, treating every opportunity like it’s the opportunity. I’m treating every end result like it’s the end result – not a means to some greater, more significant outcome.

Paul said we should make it our ambition to lead a quiet life.

Maybe we’d be wise to put our heads down and, with a heart bent on obedience, just keep leveraging the opportunities God gives us.

Work hard at them, in faith.

Then look up amazed to see what God has done, in us and through us, in these current crazy grace-laden days.

. . .

This is a transcript extract from a talk I did this week. You’re welcome to share it.

Thanks for hanging out here today. You can get in touch here, on Twitter, Instagram, or our Facebook community page.

Here’s what’s on the menu, if you’re reading this in an email:

Home | Books & other writing | Contact | Meet Dalene | Speaking

Starbucks photo credit   Sea of Galilee photo credit