One of my favorite writer/preachers today is Craig Groeschel.  He is the pastor of Lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma and has written several books that are just great, particularly The Christian Atheist.  I was at a Christian bookstore the other day and noticed he has a new book out, Weird.

With a title like that, you’ve got to pick it up and look.

And as I read the back, I saw that the one of things he was talking about in the book is one of the same things that Paul talks about in Romans 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Craig calls it being weird.  Paul calls it not being transformed.  In the Old Testament, it’s called being holy.  All of these things come down to one major thing.

As Christians, we are called to be different. We are called to be different from the world. We are called to be different from the culture. We are called to be a little weird. We are not called to be like everyone else.

We are called to be like Jesus.

We are called to follow His plan, His life, His way. We are not called to conform to the world and it’s values, we are called to conform to Jesus and His values.

And you know what? That may make us a little weird.  That’s ok.  That’s fine. That’s the way it is supposed to be.  I tells folks if people find out that you are a Christian, and they are surprised by it, that’s probably not a good sign.

Today, we called not to conform. We are called to be different. We are called to be weird. We are called to be holy.

We are called to follow Jesus.

Today, let’s chase after Him, not the world.  And in that, may we find the life we can’t find anywhere else.