In Ordinary Ways--October 22, 2026

In Ordinary Ways--October 22, 2026

"For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For they report about us what kind of welcome we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God." (1 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

When you are the real deal, you don't need to toot your own horn or make a big to-do about your own greatness.  People will know who you are and what you are like from seeing your actions in the world. You won't need to advertise or run a PR campaign--your reputation will precede you, as they say.

That much is clear here from these ongoing verses in the reading many of us heard this past Sunday from Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica, as he commends these Christians for a faith that is so obvious he doesn't have to bring it up on his travels.  Paul says here that as he has been traveling from place to place all throughout modern-day Greece and even further around other congregations he visited, the Christians he meets in all those places already know the witness of First Church of Thessalonica.  Paul says here, "I don't even have to talk you up to the other churches around, because they already know about your faith in God and how you received the Good News!"  What a beautiful and powerful thing to be said about someone--what a witness one must be that nobody needs to generate extra "buzz" or "hype" about them, because their real and authentic self is compelling enough as it is.

I am often reminded of a line of the late Margaret Thatcher, who once said that being powerful is like being an elegant lady--if you have tell someone you are, you aren't.  The apostle might have said, similarly, "If you have to tell people you have strong faith, you don't." Or put conversely, when you do have living and authentic faith in God, you won't have to try to persuade people about how devout you are.  People will already know.  They will have seen it in your actions, heard it in your words, and experienced it from the way you carry yourself in the world.

And more to the point, when we are grounded by trust in God's love for us, we realize we don't have anything to prove to anybody else.  We no longer have to waste time, energy, effort, or breath in trying to persuade people about how pious or virtuous or religious we are, because we know that it doesn't matter what other people think.  And we know that God's love for us isn't awarded like a blue ribbon based on our piety or performance, but is given out as a gift of grace.  And when you know you are loved already as you are, you don't have to make a fuss projecting a reputation or creating a public persona to impress.  You can simply be who you are, becuase you know whose you are.

What if it really is that simple?  What if we didn't have to spend any time at all hoping to get noticed for our church attendance, acts of service, faithful insights, or discipline in prayer--but we just did the kind of things that followers of Jesus do, without drawing attention to them?  What if, in a culture where it feels like everything is documented and photo-edited to be put on display in social media feeds, we were just willing to practice our faith in ordinary ways every day, and to let that be enough?

I think we would feel a whole lot freer.  And I suspect our witness would be a great deal more compelling, just by being ourselves.

Lord Jesus, free us from the worry of what other people think of us, so that we can simply and honestly follow you with our lives.