Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Weird

I just finished reading Craig Groeschel's 2011 book entitled Weird (Because Normal Isn't Working). This book is written primarily for what I would term "everyday" Christians, folks who have somehow separated their regular life of work, family, chores, and recreational time, from their Christian lives. All too often what seems to define your regular, run-of-the-mill Christian is that they go to church semi-regularly on Sundays and give a bit of their money to help the church and other charities when they can afford it. Yet this pattern has developed into a passionless rut, carried out more because it has become part of the routine, and has left many as little more than lukewarm Christians. Right up front Groeschel states:

"My concern with our culture and primary motivation for writing this book is that we've made lukewarm synonymous with normal."

"We're not much different from those who aren't Christians. We're normal. We spend our time and our money like normal people. We behave like most others. We have the same problems in our marriages, and with our kids, that people around us have."

Should the status quo really be the status quo? Shouldn't those of us who truly believe in a grace-filled, loving God, who sent His son to die for our sins, have more at stake in our lives as Christ followers than the occasional attendance at a church service and a few cancelled checks in our files? Groeschel makes it clear that this type of Christian life is not pleasing to our God, and does little to separate us from non-believers. Yet it has become the norm. But the norm isn't working and we need to get a little (or a lot) weird if we are going to get back to loving our God with passion. In so many things in life, Groeschel states:

"If you want what few others have, you have to be willing to do what few others are willing to do."

Groeschel gets specific, covering topics including our time, our money, our relationships, our sex lives, and our values. I really liked this book and valued the time that I spent reading it during my devotional time.