WHEN THINGS GET STRANGE

 

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

 

WHEN THINGS GET STRANGE

 

1 Peter 4:12-13

12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

 

          Miriam-Webster offers at least three definitions for the word strange and we are familiar with all of them. [1] Strange means “different from what is usual, ordinary, or expected: ODD. [2] Strange may also mean “not before known, heard, or seen: UNFAMILIAR. [3] Another meaning may be “not entirely comfortable or well: UNCOMFORTABLE, ILL AT EASE.

 

          The Bible lists the word strange 76 times and in both the Old and New Testament the general meaning of the word is “foreign.” Brothers and sisters, we have arrived at all three definitions! Does the world not seem a bit ODD to you? Is our global culture grossly UNFAMILIAR? Are you becoming increasingly UNCOMFORTABLE, and ILL AT EASE?

 

          Believers, like those listed in Hebrews chapter 11, “see our promises afar off, yet we are persuaded of them, and embrace them, and confess that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Things are strange not because the world will not conform to our idea of normal but because WE cannot and do not conform to the world.

 

Rom 12:1-2

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

Lord, I look around me and everything is odd, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable. I know that I am out of place here. Keep me as a stranger to this world. AMEN