Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Being a Little Odd

I'm still thinking about my verses in Colossians.

"He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Here are a few of my thoughts when I read this verse:

Delivered from one place and transferred to another. From darkness to light. Total opposites. Fitting in with those around you to becoming a little "odd".


I typed in "odd" in my Bible study tools and the first verse that caught my eye was Esther 3:8 (from the Message)

Haman then spoke with King Xerxes: "There is an odd set of people scattered through the provinces of your kingdom who don't fit in. Their customs and ways are different from those of everybody else. Worse, they disregard the king's laws. They're an affront; the king shouldn't put up with them.

Their customs and ways are different. They don't fit in. I wonder how different my customs and ways are. Am I a little "odd" to my neighbors?

I tell you that convicted me big time this morning. After I had been soaking in these thoughts I went and read Travis's post. He simply had a video that REALLY made me think of my mouth and some of the things I let "slip" out. Words that are acceptable and used among my Christians friends as well as my non-Christian friends.

So I watched the video and had verses like Be holy, for I am holy Lev. 20:26 and Matt.5:14 "you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." running through my head.

C.O.N.V.I.C.T.I.O.N.

We should be a little odd. We should stand out a little. There should be an obvious difference in our conversation, and our vocabulary. Please don't misunderstand me. I can't stand to be around people who use thee's and thou's and thou shalt not's. I'm not talking about being pious. That does not nothing but disgust and turn people off.

Christians can and should be approachable and fun and caring, but at the same time a little odd. That combination is what makes us stand out for crying out loud! We should never sacrifice personal holiness in an effort to be "relevant". I love what the pastor in this video says. So I'm just going to close my mouth and let him do the talking.

(WARNING: If are like me and get motion sick easy..then just hit play and then listen!)


4 comments:

Leah Adams said...

Amen to that. I used to really struggle with my language years ago, but as I walk closely with Jesus, His HOly Spirit has cleaned that up. Thank you, Jesus.

Leah

Still Learning said...

That was a really convicting post. I have a problem with the D word when I get frustrated. I admit it. I've "almost" gotten rid of it completely. I knew I had a real problem when my 2 year old would get frustrated with his toys and then yell out "dannit". Conviction. I had my 12 year old son watch the video and he was like, I guess I shouldn't say cr@p anymore huh? Too cool. You always have such inspiring posts.

Thanks for visiting yesterday!! It's always a blessisng to have an enouragement from you.

I think it's supposed to rain here today. I don't know if you are going to get any or not but I kinda hope we do. We've been in the pool and outside so much we are all a little burnt. Except the 2 year old. He's still as white as when he came out, stinker.

Have a great day,

Jennifer

Melinda said...

Isn't that video convicting? While I've never struggled with what is considered "mainstream" bad language, I do throw around the occasional "cr-p", etc., without much of a care in the world. This made me take a second look at what is acceptable.

Love you Steph,
Melinda

Unknown said...

This is not just for pastors but for ALL Christians!

Sheryl