Called to Be Different.....Part 3 - Final

For the past couple of posts, we have been exploring the principle that believers in the Lord Jesus are to be different than the world. (See Part 1 and Part 2) The Bible's definition of different is holy. Every follower of Christ is called to be holy.

• For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time - to show us His grace through Jesus Christ. 2 Tim. 1:9 NLT

We also established that holy does not mean perfect - only Christ was capable of perfection when He walked this earth as a man. But we are to be imitators of Him. (Eph. 5:1)

Being holy begins in the mind by allowing the Holy Spirit to filter our thoughts and attitudes. Our goal should be to first think like Jesus....

• And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 NAS

Jesus's thought patterns were framed by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23) The ATTITUDES OF CHRIST!

Once those ATTITUDES take root in our hearts, the ACTIONS OF CHRIST will follow.

What do those ACTIONS look like? Well, we saw the ATTITUDES lived out through Jesus in ACTS of kindness, mercy, and compassion. However, sometimes it is easier to understand a concept by acknowlegding what it is NOT.

• It is obvious what kind of life develops [when not allowing the Spirit to conform you]:
  
  repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal and divided temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; and vicious habits of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. Gal. 5: 19-21 The Message
• Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these... Gal. 5:19-23 NAS
  
  

Both of those translations tell us plainly what followers of Christ should NOT act like. Reading over that list is like reading today's newspaper - it IS the world!

Now, let's be clear - to live without any of those actions - ever - is to live a perfect life. We can't achieve that, so there will be times when some of those actions will creep up on us. When they do, we need to recognize from whence they come and repent. But overall, none of those actions should be prevelant, or, in other words, a habit, in the life of a Christ follower.

Because....if we ARE walking with Jesus, our minds are being transformed - an on-going process

 until we are finally perfected in heaven.

The more our lives are transformed into the image of Christ, the more different our normal becomes. And that's okay! Our normal should be different from the world's normal in both ATTITUDES and ACTIONS.

• If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going
  to hate you.
  John 15:19 The Message

If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, there is a call on your life - a call to holiness.

• As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior...1 Peter 1:14-15 NAS

As I think about being different from the world, I have to be honest and say that I don't always want

 to be different, and it's not always easy to be different. But I do have this promise from God's Word:

• ...I couldn't be more sure of my ground - the One I've trusted in, can take care of what He's trusted me to do right to the end. 2 Tim. 1:12 The Message

Are you hesitant to be different from the world around you, or are you willing to allow God's Spirit to live out His holiness through you?

Called to Be Different...Part 2

In part one of this series, we explored what it may feel like to be different from those around us. We also discussed the idea that normal is relative - everyone's normal is a bit different - thank goodness! As believers in Christ, our normal should not look like, sound like, act like, or think like the secular world in which we live.

2 Cor. 5:17 -  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! NLT That's where the idea of "born again" comes from.

So what is this new life supposed to look like? We find the answer to that question - probably hundreds of times - in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

• Be holy for I am holy. Lev. 11:44, 19:2
• You are holy to the Lord. Ezra 8:28
• ...but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16

Now, let's get one thing on the table and understand it. Holy does not mean perfect! We usually think of those two words as one in the same, but that's not biblical. Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, is the only person who was and can ever be perfect - because He is God! We are called to imitate Christ, not BE Christ!

• Therefore, be imitators of Christ... Eph. 5:1

To imitate Him means to take on the attitudes, actions, and thoughts of holiness. The word holy is defined as being different or set apart. Thinking about the earthly life of Jesus, there is no question that He fits that definition. He was definitely different; His was a different kind of normal.

To understand how we are to adapt to that kind of normal, we must make some observations about His life and how it was different from those He walked among. To understand God's character and Jesus' attitudes and actions, we only have to look to the fruit of the Spirit.

• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... Gal. 5:22-23

Fruit is the by-product of life, which re-generates life, and the cycle continues. Spiritual fruit, then, is the by-product of life with the Spirit - God's Spirit. This is fruit that we normally would not produce of ourselves.

For example, there are some people that are hard for me to love - if not impossible. If left to myself, I would not love them, but choose to ignore or even forget about them. But the Spirit's love doesn't work that way. When Jesus passed by a blind begger, He felt love and compassion for him. This was a person who, in that society, was shunned and left to fen for himself, so he would sit, probably in the same place everyday, and beg. Most people would walk out-of-their way to NOT come close to this man. But Jesus walked right up to this blind man, spread some mud on his eyes, and healed him! (John 9:1-11)

We saw Jesus approach the unapproachable again when he visited with the adulterous woman at the well in John 8. Another person who society shunned because of her lifestyle, but Jesus treated her with kindness and gentleness as He shared His forgiving news with her.

And who can doubt the presence of the Holy Spirit's peace during His trial and crucifixtion? He was totally at peace as false accusations were shouted at Him and as He was beaten and flogged with the cat-of-nine tails. He was totally at peace as He gave up His life on the cross.  (John 19)

Therefore, part of being different in this world means we are to live in the fruit of the Spirit as Jesus did. If we can experience the kind of peace that the human mind cannot comprehend (Phil 4:7) in the midst of stress and tragedy, we are learning to live like Jesus. When we can allow joy to trump our sorrow, we are learning to live like Jesus. As we love the unlovable and approach unapproachable with kindness and gentleness, we are learning to live like Jesus.

As we learn to live like Jesus, we are becoming holy - set apart, different from the secular world. What is normal for someone learning to live like Jesus will look, think, and act differently from the world.

• ...God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us through Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. 1:9

Answering that holy call will mean a new and different normal for us. Are you willing to be different?

Called to Be Different...Part 1

Some personalities are very comfortable standing out in a crowd. I think about being in a large mall several years ago and walking past a gal with short, spiky hair who had fluorescent pink highlights. I could barely keep my eyes from trailing her all the while I was thinking, "Doesn't she realize how ridiculous she looks?"

Obviously, that girl did not mind being different from the hundreds of people shopping that day. She may have even loved being the center of attention.

That is not my personality. I don't always enjoy being different than most people around me, and I know a thing or two about that. Growing up as a polio survivor who needed braces and crutches to get around, set me apart from everyone around me. So I have felt the sting of being different, of being whispered about, and even being shunned. However, I decided early on that I would embrace being different and not let it be a huge hang-up for me. So, I framed answers for those inevitable questions that were asked - mostly by children who had the courage to let their curiosity speak up. And I grew tougher skin for the times when people - mostly adults - didn't quite know how to act around me.

For fifty-odd years, I have been different and, yet, have lived a normal life in this crazy world of ours. I learned what my boundaries were - what I could do and not do, and adjusted to them. All of us have experienced that isolating feeling of being different in some way at one time or another. For you, it may not have been as dramatic as my personal example, but you know that feeling. Perhaps your skin color was different than most people around you, or you were one of the only ones in your class whose Mom and Dad didn't live together, or you were overweight and made fun of, or you enjoyed playing with trucks and guns while the other girls played with Barbi and Ken (that's me again!), or you were not athletic like the other boys.This list could on and on, but the point is that everyone has faced times when they did not feel normal. In fact, when we stop and think about it, normal is relative, and most of us have adjusted to our normal.

Why, then, is it so difficult for us to embrace a new normal when it comes to our spiritual life? Some will argue that being a believer in Christ doesn't mean that we should be different than the world around us. They will say that Christians should not be seen as separate or activists for their beliefs because that would be offensive - and if we offend the world, how will we ever win the world for Jesus?

To those believers who shy away from standing out because of their faith, I want you to be encouraged and to gain strength from His Word.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are different - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor. 5:17 NLT This new life is on the inside, regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We are not reformed, rehabilitated, or re-educated - we are re-created and living in unison with the Spirit.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we called to be different - So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord...God saved us and called us to live a holy life... 2 Tim. 1:8-9 NLT The new life He has saved us to is a holy one - one that is set apart to be different from the world.

As people, we are unable to live a holy life, but as believers in Jesus Christ, we are empowered - I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. Phil. 4:13 NAS Through His power we can grow into the spiritual men and women that He has purposed us to be.

Over the next two or three posts, we will be delving deeper into what holiness means and how holiness should set a believer in Christ apart from the rest of the world. My prayer is for us to grow in knowledge of and in desire to become more Chirst-like in our attitudes and behaviors.

That should set us on a path to a new normal - one that will cause children and adults alike to stop us and ask, "What happened to you?"

Oh, to be different - for Jesus....