{"id":2665,"date":"2023-08-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myutmostforprd.wpenginepowered.com\/modern-classic\/the-ministry-of-the-unnoticed\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T08:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T01:31:32","slug":"%d1%81%d0%bb%d1%83%d0%b6%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d0%b5-%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%b7%d0%b0%d0%bc%d0%b5%d1%87%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85","status":"publish","type":"modern-classic","link":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/%d1%81%d0%be%d0%b2%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%bc%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%8f-%d0%ba%d0%bb%d0%b0%d1%81%d1%81%d0%b8%d0%ba%d0%b0\/%d1%81%d0%bb%d1%83%d0%b6%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d0%b5-%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%b7%d0%b0%d0%bc%d0%b5%d1%87%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ministry of the Unnoticed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Testament notices things we completely overlook. When Jesus says, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit,\u201d he is elevating a state which counts for nothing according to our standards\u2014the state of being poor. Today\u2019s preaching tends to emphasize dazzling, easily noticed qualities, like strength of will or beauty of character. We often hear preachers telling us to \u201cdecide for Christ,\u201d placing the emphasis on our own effort and \u201cgoodness\u201d\u2014things our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to <em>decide<\/em> for him. He asks us to <em>yield<\/em> to him, which is very different.<\/p>\n<p>At the bedrock of Jesus Christ\u2019s kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. What I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, Jesus says I am blessed; it\u2019s through this poverty that I enter his kingdom. I can\u2019t enter his kingdom as a \u201cgood\u201d man or woman; I can enter only as a pauper.<\/p>\n<p>The true character of the loveliness that counts for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is smug and self-righteous and unchristian. If I start looking for evidence of my own usefulness, I instantly lose the bloom of the Lord\u2019s touch. \u201cWhoever believes in me,\u201d Jesus said, \u201crivers of living water will flow from within them\u201d (John 7:38). If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Who are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those without the slightest notion of their impact, those who radiated the unconscious loveliness of the Lord\u2019s touch. We always know when Jesus is at work in someone\u2019s life, because he produces something inspiring in the midst of the commonplace.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Testament notices things we completely overlook. When Jesus says, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit,\u201d he is elevating a state which counts for nothing according to our standards\u2014the state of &#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2204,"template":"","collection":[],"class_list":["post-2665","modern-classic","type-modern-classic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/modern-classic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}