Very Strange

“They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (I Peter 4:4-5 NIV)”

I remember in high school when my girlfriend and I used to sit out on her parent’s front porch and listen to the “holy rollers” in the church across the street.  They even played drums in their worship services!  I thought it very strange.

I remember after becoming a follower of Jesus hearing others talk about serving the Lord overseas.  It was okay for them, but the thought of me ever doing that was very strange.  I couldn’t imagine it.  

As I was thinking about what to do with my life early in college, it never occurred to me to consider vocational ministry.  Me, a pastor or missionary?  Too strange.  

In reality, none of this was strange.  It was just my ignorance coming into play.  I didn’t understand the things of God nor His power to shape and transform lives.  I didn’t see clearly and, so, made a lot of wrong assumptions.  

There are people who come into a church, see people lifting their hands in praise and think it strange.  There are people who see the excitement and commitment of a believer and think it a bit too much.  There are people who think it strange to give up a summer and pay to go work in some Third World country.  

They think it strange because they are ignorant.  Ignorance makes the ways of God appear odd and different.  The key is to realize the potential of our ignorance to skew reality.  We need to understand that our perceptions may be wrong and in need of adjustment.

What do you find strange today?  Reading the Bible every day?  Having conversations about the Lord apart from church or a small group Bible study?  Spending the summer (or two weeks) in a foreign country serving the Lord?  Fasting?  Giving 10% of your money to the work of the Lord?  

Today, may you be open to the fact that your assumptions could be wrong; that, in fact, what you now see as strange is in reality quite normal for citizens of the Kingdom.  

© Jim Musser 2012