A few years ago when my friends blogged a lot, someone once wrote “Being a Christian doesn’t mean we have to be weird”
I’ve been thinking about that… and… I disagree.
You know, I used to love the stories how teenagers discovered that Church/youth groups/college groups were actually fun. It wasn’t weird at all.
In fact, I had that experience in college. It really helped me to see normal fun people in a group, and God used that to grow me.
But,… should this be our goal?
To be normal? To be fun? To be liked? To be accepted?
When I was at Michigan there was an article in the school paper about how Christians wanted to be accepted on campus.
It made me uneasy. We’re not looking for acceptance. We’re already accepted by God thru Christ. And if we’re going to follow Christ, He promises rejection and suffering. He suffered rejection and no servant is better than His master. If we are to follow Christ, we will be rejected.
But in our pursuits to be normal, aren’t we just fleeing rejection?
We are called to be holy as God is holy.
What does holy mean?
To be set apart.
To be set apart. To be other than. To be different.
What makes God Holy? He is different than the world. He acts in ways contrary to the world. He is pure & righteouess- not selfish & corrupted.
And if we are to be like God, we’ll be different than the world. And if we’re different than the world – isn’t that weird?
Isn’t this a small price to pay?
So, people think I’m strange. They don’t understand me. They don’t understand my choices.
If we are to be like God and be holy amongst a sinful, unholy world- we will be different. And some may feel uncomfortable. Many may make fun of us. We will be different.
We can’t be holy and be like the world.
I think you're dead-on about our dangerous desire for acceptance. Much of the thinking that says we shouldn't be weird really comes from two bad things,
ReplyDelete1) the desire to be honored
2) the belief that we will save people based on our own coolness
On the other hand, isn't there a place for appearing 'good' to outsiders for good purpose? Consider Colossians 4:5-6; Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12.
I think it could be that these verses answer my question. Our character and conduct should be weird - but, our culture sensitivity should also be high for the sake of the Gospel
i think you're dead on with the two points.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want to be weird, we want to be cool. And we think Christ needs our help.
If people don't want Christ because He is weird, we still don't need to make apologies for Him to make Him appear better.
Sure, Derek (and others)- be relevant, understand the culture, don't be a distraction.
Beware, your own coolness could be a distraction too.
found this quote
ReplyDelete“If we are making the case that cool Christianity can be a good thing, we have to be clear that the ‘cool’ part of Christianity must exude out of the ‘Christ’ aspect of it, not from the stylish package or trendiness it might otherwise be associated with. In other words, an authentic Christian hipster community looks attractive and hip and cool, not because it tries to fashion itself in the world’s image, but because it does exactly the opposite – it fashions itself after Christ’s strange kingdom and his transforming gospel for a world that desperately needs it”
Brett McCracken "Hipster Christianity"