“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.”

1 Peter 2:11-12

Ya know, it’s ok to be weird. We sometimes struggle to be people we are not just to please those around us. But if we are to be effective in the world as Christians, we need to be different. We need to be weird.

Peter reminds us that this world is not our home. Just as those who immigrate to different countries have moved to a better place than where they were, we too were brought out of darkness into God’s wonderful light and are just travelling through from this world to a better place. But as we travel, what we do matters, because God desires for us to bring others with us!

And unfortunately, the world doesn’t always see things God’s way. The things we do will often look like foolishness and weirdness to others, but we know that faithfulness is what powers us – faithfulness from our Father and faithfulness to our Father.

I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who chose to take on the blazing furnace rather than bow down to the golden god (Daniel 3) or for those who marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days (Joshua 6). What they did was pretty weird by the world’s standards, but their faith “showed the reality of what we hope for; the evidence of the things we cannot see. Their acts of faith is what distinguished them and set them above the crowd” (Hebrews 11:1-2). Those who were watching saw the faithful power and goodness of God through the faithful actions of these few.

We too can show others the goodness of God by not being afraid to be weird. We should not be ashamed that we are set apart to be used by God in a dark and broken world.

So today I pray that God’s power will be made known through your courageous faith. I pray for us to be weird by doing things that seem foolish and stupid to others. And I pray that our actions prove to the world that our hearts may be troubled, but our faithful God is greater.

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9

#SaturdaySoulSearch