Don't Be Normal

In the first paragraph of the final chapter of the book, "Forgotten God" (which I highly recommend), Francis Chan writes:

"My hope and prayer for you, the reader, is that church people don't try to normalize you. What I mean is that we often try to calm people down who are just too passionate or too sacrificial and radical..."

Possibly, a situation is already coming to mind. Maybe you were the one living passionately and your church tried to calm you down, or even worse, they did calm you down. Or maybe you were on the other side of the situation, and you were the one trying to calm someone else down. This is quite a contradiction to the early church (found in Acts 4). Peter and John were living radical lives and were preaching with boldness, even under arrest. Those around them were astonished because they could see so much of Jesus in their lives (4:13). Right after their release, they returned to the other believers and prayed for even more boldness (4:29), and the church joined them in that. THE CHURCH JOINED THEM IN PRAYER. THEY DID NOT TRY TO CALM THEM DOWN!

What is going on with the church today? I have had several experiences where I have stepped out of my comfort zone and tried to live passionately and some church people have tried to pull me back. Thankfully I also have a lot that are encouraging me to press forward and are promising to pray for me. But I can't help but to think of those who try to pull me back or calm me down. I have also seen this happen with many other people. How dare we try to destroy the passion that God has given them! Who are we? What authority do we have?

The most common excuse that people give is that you need to start thinking about your future. But what about those who don't have a future? What about those in Cambodia who will die of starvation unless we help them? What about the orphans of Haiti who aren't even old enough to fend for themselves? What about the young girls in Poland who will be sold into prostitution? Or what about the little boys in India who will be forced into child trafficking? Or let us not forget about the homeless in the very streets of America who aren't even promised a meal tomorrow. Who will offer them a future? Who will fight for their rights? Who will give up their future so that others can have one?

I know a few people who barely live above the poverty rate, yet they still give everything they have to the poor. Some declare them to be irresponsible with the gifts that God has given them. But why do you think that God has given them those gifts? To buy a new TV? To get a new car? If you are one who lives this way, keep doing it! Don't let the church normalize you. Be like the widow, in Luke 21, who gave all that she had. Your money has been given to you for that very purpose: to give to others. If we were to go back to the model of that first church, we would see that everyone shared everything they owned (Acts 4:32). Live this way! Live radically!

A personal one that struck me the hardest was this, "Why risk your life in going overseas? Can't we just let the locals do that?" Do you realize that there are still 6,642 unreached people groups in the world that have practically zero access to the Gospel!? What local is going to tell them? Most of those countries won't even permit a Bible in their country, nor will they allow you to view any Christian material online. The only way to get the Gospel to them is to take it to them yourself. And if I may backtrack a bit, what sort of message would it be if we simply just sent a message to them and weren't even bold enough to show our faces. Is the Gospel not worth it? Personally, I would gladly die for just one unreached person to hear the Gospel for the first time.

And this last one is probably the most pathetic: "You are making us look bad." Well who's fault is that? I once heard someone say, "I want to live a life the makes other Christians feel intimidated." Oh, how I love that statement! I don't think that person meant that his goal was to simply intimidate others, but rather his goal was to magnify Christ so much in his life that others would feel convicted and be urged on to do the same. So what if you suffer persecution? So what if you sometimes you are the only one standing? So what if you are mocked? I want to be like David who responded to critics in 2 Samuel 6 that one day he would be "even more undignified than this."

Have you ever performed on stage before? If so, you may remember what it is like to have the spotlight on you. You have no idea whether that theater is empty or full, because all that you can see is the spotlight. Well the goal of my life is to live in the spotlight. By that statement, I don't mean that I want others to see me (that would be the perspective of the audience). But rather, I want to be so focused on that spotlight that I can't see anything else (the perspective of the performer). I want to be so focused on God and so passionate about living for His glory, that I wouldn't even see what the rest of the world is doing.

I wish I was a better writer, or that I could convey this message better. But it is what it is. My prayer is that this message would connect with you where ever you are. If God has given you a passion, run with it! Never let the flame die! Surround yourself with people who will support you in prayer and in whatever other means you need support in. Live a life that is radical. Live a life that is passionate. Be who God has called you to be. And lastly, don't be normal.