Beyond Average
By Neil Hoffman
For as much as people talk about individuality, the truth is that most of us don’t really want to stand out all that much.
We like to wear clothes that everyone else is wearing, see the movies everyone is talking about, and strive for an average weight, average score, average life.
We tend to measure ourselves by the average. If we are like everyone else (or maybe even just a tiny bit above) we feel like we’re doing pretty well:
“I may not be the best parent, but I’m better than a lot of people I know.”
“I might not be the best spouse, but I’m definitely not the worst.”
“I’m not the best Christian, but it’s ok. I’m average.”
Here are some stats about the average Christian. Over the course of his or her life, the average Christian will:
- Attend 910 church services
- Participate in 9,000 public prayers
- Sing 10,000+ worship songs
- Lead zero people to Christ
Many people think that God will be pleased with them if they are average Christians, but look at these sad and sobering statistics. Saying “I’m an average Christian” feels sort of comfortable, but what if we replace average with another word that means the same thing? How about “mediocre”?
That doesn’t sound so good all of the sudden.
In the Bible, the closest thing I can find to the word “average” is “lukewarm” – and it’s not a good thing.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth
- Revelation 3:15-16
God didn’t make us to be average in our Christianity, but for many of us, that’s what we will end up being. Unless we decide now to do what average people won’t do, “lukewarm” is our destiny.
The world, on the other hand, does want you to be average. It tells us that no one cares about your religion as long as you keep it to yourself (so keep it to yourself). No one cares about what you believe as long as you do it privately, but if you dare to stand up and declare that that certain things are right and others are wrong, you are often branded as fanatical, intolerant, and narrow-minded. The world’s solution? Just be average.
Maybe the reason the word “average” isn’t in the Bible is because it is not what we were made to be.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
- 1 Peter 2:9
Choosing to be different can be scary. You give up blending into the crowd to follow Jesus, and there is risk involved. But here’s the funny thing about risk – it’s tied to reward. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the old expression says.
Read Matthew 25, where Jesus tells the parable of the talents. The short version is that a master gives money to his servants to do business with until he returns. Two of them do, the other is afraid of losing the money, so he doesn’t try. He buries it in the sand, and when the master comes back, he hasn’t lost anything – he returns what he was given. He’s rebuked and sent out. The other two are rewarded.
Here is the point: Average people do average things, give average effort, and miss out on the miraculous and the extraordinary. Those who step out in faith to follow Jesus’ commandments wherever they lead find God’s purpose for their lives and effect great change around them.
Choosing to live beyond average means doing some things that may feel embarrassing at first because they make you stick out. But at the end of our lives, our biggest regrets are rarely things that we’ve done. What we most regret are the things we had the chance to do but did not.
In the 1800’s, there was a dry good salesman named Kimball who felt God calling Him to share the gospel with this kid who kept showing up to his Sunday school class. He put it off and put it off, until one day, walking home, he really felt the Lord put it on his heart to share with this kid. He knew where this kid worked, so he walked to his job and sat him down and explained the gospel. He accepted Christ because of this encounter, but that isn’t all. That kid’s name was Dwight Moody, who went on to become a great evangelist and preacher. At one of his revival meetings, John W. Chapman came and was saved. He, in turn, became an evangelist. During one of Chapman’s events, someone named Billy Sunday came forward to accept Christ. He became a preacher, and Mordecai Ham heard him speak and responded to an invitation to publically proclaim faith. Then, years later, Mordecai Ham preached a revival where a young boy named Billy Graham attended and gave his life to Jesus.
How many of us today can trace our spiritual lineage to Billy Graham? All of this was possible because an ordinary guy like Kimball wasn’t afraid to step out of the average Sunday Christian duties and walk to a kid’s job to share the gospel with him.
We don’t need everyone to go and be a full-time occupational pastor, but God is still calling each of us out. What you ought to do is what average people don’t. Be willing to enter uncomfortable situations and be obedient to Jesus.
You were never meant to be an average Christian.
(This article is based off of a longer message. Click here to listen.)
