Present with God: In my Weirdness

Therefore, go out from their midst, and be separate from them…then I will welcome you and I will be as a father to you…” -1 Corinthians 6:17–18

I know that weirdness doesn’t sound too holy, but it feels like sometimes that just the best way to describe the life that Jesus calls us to. It’s weird to talk to a being you have no objective evidence is there. It’s weird to gather in groups to sing songs about that being. It’s weird to have confidence that the murder of an obscure Jewish peasant over 2000 years ago is the hope for the restoration of everything broken in the universe. It’s weird to not retaliate when facing injustice. But God’s promise to us is that within that weirdness we find a connection with God as our father.

Too often we try to shave down the weirdness that comes with being a child of God. We behave like embarrassed teenagers. Ducking down in the back seat so no one sees us drive by in the station wagon…terrified that dad’s going to show up those horrid black socks and sandals combo…convicned that mom can’t have a conversation with our friends without irreparably damaging our entire social standing.

This impulse too often leads us to compromise our holiness on the altar relevance. We justify this by telling ourselves that if everyone thinks we are a weird-o we will never be able to influence them for God. But what happens more often is that no one can really tell the difference between us and our non-believing friends.

But God calls us out from our compulsive need to fit in. When we intentionally make ourselves aware of his presence in our lives, we begin to see that we ARE different from those around us. These differences demonstrate the wonderful changes that being with God is working in our lives. We begin to see them, not as things to be hidden or minimized, but a wonderful transformation that we want for everyone. Paradoxically, by separating ourselves, we become more enthusiastic and more energized to share what God is doing in our lives.

Be Present with God

Make some time to be present with God. Confess to him the times and the areas of your life where you have been afraid to let him in for fear of being too weird. Thank him for his patience with your embarrassment and rest in the fact that his deepest desire is only for you god. Ask him to give you peace with the weirdness of being his child. Ask him to draw you deeper into relationship with you regardless of the weirdness that it might create. Thank him for the way that he has made you aware of his presence during this time.