I've never wanted to be "weird". In fact I really wanted to portray to people that you don't have to be "weird" to follow Christ. But as I look at the scriptures, there are a whole lot of crazy people.
The apostle Paul was crazy. In fact he writes in 2 Corinthians 5, "If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God....".
Peter was crazy. The things he did, the things he said, the way he lived. I'm sure people thought he was a little on the "weird" side.
And how about Jesus? Was he concerned about his image? Did he try to teach that you can be "normal" and still follow him? Or was he about a total life commitment that the world would see as "weird"? I think we know the answer.
I think real, authentic passion for Christ is going to appear "different" to our world, and even to our church. We rarely see it truly lived out like the scriptures seem to show, in fact I think we have sort of religionized (I'm aware this isn't in the dictionary) the gospel as a whole. "Just raise your hand to give your life to Christ, and repeat this prayer after me - then you will be saved!" Maybe now we expect that they quit drinking, swearing, and try to be a "good person". But is this how it's supposed to work?
Mark Twain was quoted saying, "The church is a bunch of good people trying to teach good people how to be good people." But this is the gospel.
The gospel is about a life change, it's about passion, it's about purpose and a new way to live. And that will seem "weird" to our world but I also think that this will seem "weird" even to our church.
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