Stand out

Have you won any popularity contests lately? I haven't! I imagine we have all struggled with the idea of being "popular" - being part of the "in" crowd. In school, we'd look at certain groups of girls or boys, see how they dressed, looked at the way they did their hair, listened to what the talked about, and then what did we try to do? For some of us, we tried to "fit in" by doing those things or dressing in similar fashion! If we have a tendency to be "followers" by nature, we want to "bend" to the whim of the crowd we are with. If we are "leaders", we honestly just expect everyone else to fall in line behind us! But...did you ever stop for a moment to think that a leader is no good if there are no followers? Lead or follow as a support to the leader - either role is important - but one should not desire to lead, for leadership carries a great burden and much responsibility.

Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:10-12)

I was a follower - - getting caught up in the whims of the crowd. I did some pretty "not so nice" things! I engaged in some mischief for which I have long ago repented and asked God's forgiveness. I also got into my fair share of trouble - spending quite a bit of time "explaining" my behaviors to my parents and others! Needless to say, Christ changed a lot for me! I was so concerned with impressing others at that point in my life that I forgot to be myself. I forgot how to be 'real' or 'genuine' in relationship. I needed (or wanted) to be exactly what you needed me to be - not being true to myself at all. Consider the goal of being "popular" for just a moment and you might just realize the "favor" a particular group might show you is sometimes not always what it is cracked up to be. In fact, the very direction the group may be headed will only place you in a position of being rather unpopular with many others! Let me be transparent here - I am not a Christian because it makes me "popular". In most cases, being a Christian these days is not the most popular stand we can take.

Popular describes something or someone as an object or individual who represents the "masses". In today's society, Christianity is proclaimed, but it is not consistently "lived". We cannot say Christian virtues are the popular (prevailing) virtues. In fact, the trend is the tolerance of all virtues - regardless of the religion. So, close personal relationship with Jesus is not always the most 'popular' choice one can make, but it is the more rewarding! Something which can be "adapted" to fit the ordinary intelligence or taste of an individual may be considered to be 'popular'. Regardless of how we might feel about this, God's Word is NOT something we can "adapt" to fit whatever our whims might be. It is meant to be interpreted by certain principled methods and cannot be "twisted" to "fit" our particular stance. Whenever we twist the Word to fit our immediate whim, we are attempting to make the Word of God "popular" - to bend it to the "trend" of society rather than allowing it to affect the "bend" of society!

You may not have realized it, but most things deemed to be popular really have a value determined by those who think it popular. So, we may not always want to be "popular" in our walk. Why would we want to be considered "ordinary" when God declares us to be "extraordinary"? We might not always want to "adapt" things to fit our intentions or plans because when life is all about us, we miss the enjoyment and fulfillment of including those uniquely designed to provide some blessing in our life. We may not realize the "cost" of what we have been given, but hang around long enough and it will eventually become apparent! Nope! We are not in this for the "popularity" it produces! Be willing to be "unpopular" to the masses - God has declared you so already! Just sayin!

Constructed or Created?

Charles Dickens reminds us: "The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." The one creating is able to see long before the created comes into existence - there is much thought as to how the end result will be formed, but more thought goes into how much the object is loved. If that be the case, just imagine how much thought goes into the love extended our way each and every day by a loving and gracious Creator!

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13-16 NLT)

If you have ever complained about the complexity of your life, you might want to think again - the very nature of that complexity bespeaks a Creator and that Creator formed you in love. You and I were 'knit together' - not by accident - by purposeful and intent creative power. Even in the creation process, God took such good care to form us - long before we were known to man, we were the object of his great care. From the beginning of our time, and even before it really, God had a plan for our lives - a plan unique to each of us.

Man might try to construct a life - directing the studies one will pursue and even the skills we will acquire. Yet, the very essence of who and what we are goes much deeper than any course of study or acquired skill - it goes to the essence of who we are created to be - the workmanship of the Great Creator. As such, God makes no accidents. We are his craftsmanship - as such, we are unique. A craftsman makes no two alike - he creates each with a unique flare - similar though we may be, each of us is somehow expressive of the uniqueness of God's character in somewhat of a different manner.

We aren't called to all be the same - we are called to be what we were created to be. While it is good to have common interests and goals, we don't all have the same way of seeing things, of interpreting life. We might all have brain matter, but it processes at different speeds, some of us using more of our life hemisphere and other our right. The left may make our thoughts more logical and linear, but the right may make them more colorful and holistic. One without the other leaves us 'bent' on seeing the world only as our thoughts can interpret it. 

Why did God make some to be more right-sided thinkers and others more left-sided thinkers? Maybe it was so we'd come to see what others see - and take that interpretation of life not so much as 'uniquely theirs' as it could be uniquely God's! Maybe he gave us such span of thought so we'd share about him - how he has created us and how his unique character is expressed in each of us. If that be so, then we'd do well to consider the work of creation he has done, respecting it and upholding the beauty of all of it! Just sayin!