Better question, what if you and I both were normal? Now, I’m not calling you different, strange, or weird, although you definitely have some odd tendencies. I just think that you think you’re not normal. You see, I view myself as not normal, so I’m guessing you feel the same way. I’ve been taught that I’m not normal, that I’m different, and that I don’t fit in this world. What makes me this way, what makes me abnormal?
I’m a Christian.
If you’re a Christian, or any kind of church-goer, I’m sure you’ve heard a sermon on how Christians are not of this world and are different, set apart, not normal. I completely agree with this statement (even if I don’t fully understand it/live it out). It is biblical and true and salve to my soul. But what if we said it a different way.
What if you and I were THE normal?
Follow me here. The God of the universe made us to be in relationship him, which makes Christians ‘normal’*. If something is working as it was designed to work, then it is normal. This is true for cars, laptops or anything else that has an intelligent design behind it. So, as a Christian who believes that I have a relationship with God, and thus working as He designed me, I should feel normal.
But why don’t I feel normal? Why do I too often feel strange, different or like an outcast? What if I lived like being a Christian was normal?
I would live boldly. I would live proud. I would live free, and honest, and unafraid. After all, what do I have to fear! I’m normal!
Wait..that sounds familiar, like I read it somewhere.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
Christian, do not fear, for you are exactly how God designed you to be. As I’ve talked to more people about the World Race, at times I have felt different or strange. I’ve felt embarrassed or ashamed when I tell someone that God (“Yeah, I believe there is one God.”) called me (“No, it wasn’t a booming voice.”) to the World Race. I become quiet and apologetic and timid. I don’t feel normal.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize that you and I are sons and daughters who were made to worship, praise and glorify our God and Father, who were made to be in a relationship with him, and I was made to proudly, boldly, shamelessly declare that I was called to the World Race. We. Are. Normal.
And now we must live like it.
*I am not indirectly calling non-Christians abnormal. You know the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? God. Neither is better, worse, more normal or more different than the other.
