IT's Different

Have you ever been put on the spot and tried to describe a food you really didn’t like without being offensive? Then they send it home with you? I learned a long time ago to tell the truth. Have you ever tried to describe a person you didn’t jive with? Or better yet trying to set up a blind date and describing the people? 

When people look at you will they describe you and the way you live with a nice, “he’s different”?
My mom and dad decided to go to one of the distant family reunions. It was local and a potluck. They brought some food and went to mingle. At the event they noticed it was catered. My mom asked my aunt who went with them, if the invite said it was a potluck. She assured her it was a potluck and some other people had brought dessert. Regardless nobody seemed friendly to them. They waited and waited so see if there was anyone they recognized.

After being there for over an hour and they had finished eating, they thought the relatives were just a little different and they didn’t care to stay, so they left. I asked my mom a few weeks after the event how it went and she said they were just a little different and she didn’t care to ever go back. I thought nothing further of it.

About two years later my mom said in passing during a conversation, “like the time we went to the wrong reunion”. Immediately I pressed her inquiring about this. She became upset and did not want to talk about. She simply said they reunion where the people were a little different weren’t related at all, except for maybe one person.

For the next few years she wouldn’t talk about it. She was afraid to go to the store and be recognized as the lady that crashed a reunion. It took me five years of gentle interviews and interrogation tactics to get her to tell the story. 15 years later she can finally laugh about it and yes, she told me I could share it. 

So we aren’t perfect and our lives are different. Does the Christian walk make you holier than thou? Do we become bible thumpers? Does our speech become so unreal that people can’t relate? Do we portray ourselves to be something we are not? Is salvation just having eternal life or is it different? What does it mean to be a Christian?

Some look at Christianity like life insurance. I will follow God just in case. It’s so much more and Jesus doesn’t want you to miss the full and purposeful life he has to offer when you walk beside him. One day every knee will bow to Christ.  

“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”
Romans 14:7-13 NIV

God chose you to be his ambassador. Your life is full of distinct purpose to carry the mission of Christ only you can fulfill. People will say you are different. People are going to notice the stand for righteousness you take and people will say your lifestyle is different. We weren’t called to be normal. We are called to be obedient. The Christian walk is full of trials, trouble and temptation. The peace and favor we get during the journey is a gift, and it’s different.  
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Jesus died but he defeated death. Our sin was defeated, our sickness was defeated, and our sorrows were defeated. From this death, because of the supernatural resurrection, He’s alive forever more. I’m forgiven and my life is different. So tell the world of my peace, my joy, my victory, and let them know it’s different.