A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
– John 13:34
Are Christians weird? I would hope so. The definition of weird is having a strange or extraordinary character. It implies an unexpected departure from the normal. We don’t always associate the word weird with the idea of something extraordinary, however a born again Christian is definitely to be set apart. Not in an isolated way, rather in terms of righteousness.
In John 15:19 Jesus says, If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
When we are of the world, meaning we are apart from Christ, we are normalized to the world and its ideologies. Though we may try, the world ultimately sees us as nothing special or unique. This is simply because it is only when we come to Christ that our uniqueness and significant identity is exposed and can shine. Only in Christ can we overcome the normality of this world and as a result become weird to them. The peculiarity comes because Christ is literally in us and that light is strange to those who only recognise darkness.
As a result, despite how you say it, Christian’s are just different. And rightly so. Because we have died to ourselves, we are alive in Christ, living by a Kingdom standard. Not only does the world label us as an oddity, we had better be living a life that is contrary to the standards of natural man.
The distinction first becomes clear in our new Christ centered worldview. A worldview that was once ordinary to us, is now filtered through the moral standards of God. Where once we were blind, now we can see. The impact on our life is dramatic. No longer is this world and its standards enough.
Then something peculiar happens. We cannot contain our new identity within ourselves. The application process of our faith moves into how we choose to live out our visible Christianity in a world that is not our home. The new man overshadows the old and the people around us take notice. The command of Jesus to love one another spills over from the Body of Christ into the world. Or at least it should. As a result, those without Christ are exposed to Christ through our love emanating from God’s Truth. The intensity of God’s love is mysterious, even awkward to those who embrace the world. It flows from the reality that we are different. As a result, an uneasiness begins to creep into them.
Simply put, Christ in us brings conviction in them.
So the world does what the world always does, labels what they fear as bizarre, as weird, as strange and sometimes dangerous.
God’s truth exhibited through His love has a way of bringing with it an aroma. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 2:15, For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and stench those who are perishing. We, in Christ, are the aroma or the stench. One leading to life, the other to death. It is undeniable that an aroma or a stench is noticeably apparent. Those around us are aware that they are encountering something weird, something special, something unique. It’s a beautiful thing.
Stay weird to a world that seeks to normalize everyone.
Jason Metz, Lead Pastor
