I’m Just a Garden Variety Christian!
“I’m just a garden variety Christian,” is what I said in self-condemnation back in the late 1980’s in Hawaii. At that time, I was on staff with the Navigators and leading a ministry on the Kaneohe Marine Base. It involved evangelism of nonbelievers, establishing of new Christians and equipping or training of a few to be able to invest into the spiritual growth of others. Also, a part of my calling was to reach out to people in my church and the community to share the vision of the ministry to Marines (translation “fundraising” or as one person, I thought was a friend at the time called, “begging.”)
So, in that environment for Christian workers outside of the local church was of one of competition for donations that came heavily from Evangelical Christians and churches. The more dramatic, dynamic or drastic the need the more successful the person or organization would likely would attract financial support. People naturally want to back a “winner” and get the “most bang for their buck.” So, enter one local evangelist, I will call him, “The Gospel Glamour Guy” who came and spoke to “my” church, on my turf! The impact of HIS ministry in our community seemed much more fruitful than MINE. His stories were more dramatic and numbers he was reaching more impressive. He even had that golden blonde “surfer hair” I no longer had as I was now in my mid-thirties and had long stopped surfing. In my insecurity and envy (I’m being real here!) rather than rejoicing in his success I turned to self-loathing.
How did “I am not a super star like this guy, I am just a ‘garden variety Christian’” come out of me and why was it so painful to admit to myself? Where were the “roots” (no pun intended) of that phrase come from? I looked it up recently to find that it means “no frills and generally unremarkable in that it is easy to come by and not in any way fancy.” Think about it this way, let’s say you have some flowers growing in your garden in the backyard. They would never win an award for “Best Flower” competition (I guess there is such a thing). They are just “garden variety” flowers…nothing special about them, just quite ordinary. When grouped together you could hardly tell one from the other. That’s the idea.
Why did I hate the idea of being “ordinary” like it was the worst insult in the world? To be extraordinary in human achievement, to rise to the top among others, was simply the “air that I breathed.” Every place I looked the extraordinary was exalted, honored, and glorified. I didn’t have to look any farther than my own father or my two grandfathers. They each accomplished much in their lives long before I had even been born. In the realm of religion my first two churches I attended as a child and teen had extraordinary and “successful” pastors, both coincidentally were named “Pastor Jim.” (Pastor Jim Cook if you ever read this, I honor you, sir, and thank you for showing me a pastor can be a “man’s man.”
Then I of course, as have all of us, grew up in a celebrity-worshipping world. I had bought into very unconsciously that for me to be successful in what God was calling me to do I had to be “extraordinary” or else I would be a failure. There was no land in between, no “Switzerland.” There is one verse from the first letter of the Apostle John that speaks to this wrong thinking. “Do not love this world nor the things the world offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, AND A PRIDE IN OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND POSSESSIONS. THESE ARE NOT FROM THE FATHER, BUT FROM THE WORLD.” (I John 2:15-16 NLT, “shouting” added)
Jeremy Taylor wrote, “Some people spend their time dreaming of greatness, envisioning theatres full of people applauding them, imagining themselves giving engaging speeches, fantasizing about having great wealth. All of this is nothing but the fumes of pride, exposing their heart’s true wishes. Although there is nothing directly evil in this, it is the offspring of an inner evil and has nothing whatsoever to do with the obtaining of humility.” (pg. 246 Devotional Classics)
Is there any kind of “greatness” for a follower of Christ that is good for us envision, then, for us? We just need to look at Jesus in what He modeled and taught. He Himself humbled Himself and appeared very ordinary to those who rejected Him. “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, not to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected-a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way, He was despised, and we did not care.” (Isaiah 53:2-3 NLT prophesied 800 years before Christ!)
When He walked the earth He reminded His followers, “You know the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man (Jesus) came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45 NLT emphasis added)
The thing about being a “garden variety Christian” is this: when we take the lower place, we are in the best position to serve others and be exalted in God’s eyes. Being a “garden variety Christian” is the greatest reflection of the One who “did not attract us to Him” (Isaiah 53:2) and who “took on the form of a servant, humbling Himself to death, even death on the cross” for our sake (Philippians 2: 7,8)
How does God bring people like you and me to learn to not fight this but to humbly embrace HIS way to “greatness?” Jeremy Taylor is helpful again when he writes, “Give God thanks for every weakness, fault, and imperfection you have. Accept it as a favor of God, an instrument to resist pride and nurse humility. Remember, if God has chosen to shrink your swelling pride, he has made it much easier for you to enter in through the narrow way.”
These “GVC’s” are the humble ones He is able to pour His grace through (I Peter 5:5-6). These are the “fragile clay jars containing this great treasure” that makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. (2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT) They are the ones whom God chose to be “foolish...powerless…despised...those considered as nothing at all” in order “that no one can boast in the presence of God.” (I Corinthians 1:27-29) Paul sums it up towards the end of 2 Corinthians when he concluded “when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10b) And John the Baptist, the greatest man who had ever lived according to Jesus, proclaimed humbly, “He (Jesus) must become greater and greater. I must become less and less.” (John 3:30 NLT)
Are you “a Garden Variety Christian?” I sure am. And I’m glad I am! And I like to be bunched together with the other follower-flowers who are also GVC’s. Together we become a fragrant colorful bouquet in this decaying and barren world. If we can embrace this, in our self-obsessed, self-seeking and “selfy”-taking world, then we can help others see where true glory really lies. We can each say … “it is not I but Christ who lives in me who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) And what about this this need we have for us to be exalted or recognized by others? When compared to being loved and known by HIM, who needs it?!
And isnt’ it CHRIST whom others so desperately need to see through us? When they do, this will help them to truly come to know and love HIM.
Jamie Bohnett
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