Must we always fit in with the crowd and go with the flow?
I've thought about these questions once before, and honestly I didn't try to fit in with everyone I came into contact with. I was the one who didn't care if I was called a Band Nerd because of my love for music. In High School you want to "fit in" with the "popular" group and not with the "unpopular" groups because you want to feel accepted. I will tell you this, you don't need to be with those kind of people because you could get yourself caught up in things that you don't want to get into.
Over the past few years I've had to adapt to new surroundings like going to a new school and meeting new friends. When you are new to a school you tend to Stand Out from the others because you will possibly be sitting by yourself at lunch while everyone else is sitting in their groups of friends. I was the one who would sit by myself at lunch because I was new to the school and didn't know a single person there. Half way through that same semester I found a group of friends who I had class with right before lunch. I could say that I was the one that stood out in this group because every day I had on a different T-shirt with something Jesus related. Although I was never questioned about them I seemed to stick out from this group I was hanging around.
This group wasn't the worst group of people to hang out with but they were close to it. I've tried to explain to them why I was wearing these Jesus shirts, but they didn't seem to care much and I knew that I shouldn't give up on explaining Salvation to them. I was disappointed after trying over and over again to get them to listen to what I had to say, that I got to the point of just stopping with what I was saying. After a few days of not saying anything it had seemed that I had begun to blend in with them, except I didn't do everything that they did, and I was beginning to feel like something wasn't right. So I began to wear the shirts again but only talked about them when a question arose about them.
I have begun reading a new book called Radical by David Platt, and must I say just reading the first chapter made me think. David Platt would be one of the people who would Stand Out in a crowd as well as Billy Graham and even Francis Chan. These men have gone above and beyond what any other Christian would do. These Christians would rather sit in the same pew and go through the same routines than going out into the world like we are called to. These men took Matthew 28:19-20 seriously.
Matthew 28:19-20
"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I command you: and lo, I am
with you always, even until the end of the world."
This is important for us because Jesus is telling his Disciples to go out into the world and make disciples, or new Christians, by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is telling them basically to Stand Out for what you believe in for Him no matter what it will cost you.
In Platt's book Radical there is a part where it was saying that getting tongues cut out for not obeying the government was common and it asks the reader, Is Jesus Worth It? Is He worth losing your tongue or everything that you have? This made me realize that I should Stand Out more than what I already am doing in my school and church. Be sure that you Stand Out for Jesus where ever you are no matter the cost it has on you: from your tongue to your job.
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