The Beauty of the Ordinary: Embracing Life as an Ordinary Christian

There are no extraordinary Christians. But being an ordinary Christian is an extraordinary thing.

How I wish I had understood that when I first came to faith. In those early days, my heart burned with zeal. I wanted to be the best possible Christian—to rise above mediocrity, to experience something deeper and higher than “ordinary” believers. Without realizing it, I began chasing a mirage. I fell into the trap of believing that there existed a superior version of the Christian life, a secret to holiness that only the most devout could attain. What I didn’t know was that I had embraced pietism.

Pietism, at first glance, seems noble. Who wouldn’t want to be more spiritual, more devoted, more like Christ? But hidden beneath that pursuit was a theology built on human effort rather than divine grace. My focus shifted from trusting what Christ had done for me to striving for what I could do for Him. I thought I was chasing holiness, but I was actually chasing a form of self-righteousness.

The Subtle Seduction of Pietism

Pietism is difficult to define because it wears many faces. It can look like rigorous prayer schedules, extended fasts, ascetic living, legalistic obedience, or submission to self-appointed spiritual authorities. It can also hide behind softer practices—devotional trends, performance-driven spirituality, or the constant search for a “deeper” life. Some versions seem harmless, even admirable. Others are so extreme that most Christians would quickly recognize something is wrong. But no version of true pietism is ever harmless, because all forms subtly undermine the sufficiency of Christ.

At its core, pietism promises a special status to those who follow certain practices or discover certain “secrets.” It whispers that ordinary faith and ordinary grace aren’t enough. The pietist thinks, “If I just do this—pray longer, fast harder, read more, obey better—I will finally break through to that higher plane.”

But Scripture cuts through this illusion. Paul confronted the same error in Colossians 2, where false teachers claimed to possess the key to a superior spiritual experience. They promoted “self-made religion” (Colossians 2:23), insisting that believers needed something beyond the finished work of Christ. Paul’s response was clear: believers already have everything they need in Christ. There is no higher tier of Christianity, no secret class of “super saints.”

Grace, Not Gradients

The heart of the Christian life—both salvation and sanctification—is grace.

“If salvation and sanctification are God’s work through His grace,” then, as the article of faith goes, “we are all in the same boat.” There’s no higher order to reach because the same grace that saves also sanctifies. As Paul asked the Galatians, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3).

Pietism reverses that order. It assumes that grace gets us in the door, but human effort takes it from there. That’s why it breeds comparison and spiritual elitism. When I was caught in pietism, if someone told me he prayed two hours a day, I felt compelled to pray three. If someone seemed more “spiritual,” I pushed harder, not out of love for God, but out of fear of being left behind. My faith became a competition rather than a relationship.

Such striving might appear holy, but Paul says it has “the appearance of wisdom” while being “of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:23). In other words, it looks spiritual but produces pride, not holiness.

The Finished Work of Christ

The gospel dismantles pietism because it proclaims that Christ has done it all. Hebrews 10:10 says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” And verse 14 adds, “By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

That’s not just good news for our justification—it’s the foundation of our sanctification. God continues to shape and mature us by the same grace that saved us. There’s no secret formula, no deeper life discovered by a select few. All believers walk the same road of grace, faith, repentance, and obedience.

To be clear, the Bible does teach progressive sanctification. We are called to grow in holiness, to pursue righteousness, to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). But even that work is the result of God’s work within us: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

So yes, we strive—but not to achieve higher status. We strive because grace compels us, because we love the One who first loved us.

The Ordinary Christian Life Is Extraordinary

The irony of pietism is that it makes ordinary faith seem inadequate, when in reality, there is nothing more profound than simply belonging to Christ.

If you have trusted Him for the forgiveness of sins, you already possess the greatest spiritual treasure imaginable. You are united with Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and loved by the Father with an everlasting love. That is not ordinary in any trivial sense—it is extraordinary beyond measure.

The call of the Christian life is not to ascend to a higher plane, but to rest more deeply in what Christ has already accomplished. True growth comes not from discovering new secrets but from remembering old truths—the gospel truths—that never stop being enough.

There are no extraordinary Christians. There are only ordinary Christians made extraordinary by an extraordinary Savior.

And that is more than enough.

Rooted in Jesus Grace,

Mara Wellspring