Oh my goodness! Can you relate? There are days where I seriously think that no one understands my family’s kind of fun. You know what? That’s ok. Because we have fun anyway! And every now and then, we run into others who have the same quirks we do. Those days are a blast!

Did you know that Jesus told his followers that they are supposed to be different? That they are actually not of this world?! No, we are not aliens! However, once we become a follower of Jesus, our soul belongs in heaven.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:20-21

This citizenship makes us different. We start seeing things in new ways, our likes/dislikes start changing, and we may start to seem “weird” to everyone around us. It may even make some people dislike us. You see, the wonderful thing about being a follower of Christ and an heir to the kingdom, is that he starts making us more like him. As our light shines brighter, some are drawn to it and others are driven away.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

John 15:18-19

(Jesus praying to the Father about the disciples)

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

John 17:14-19

If people are starting to notice that you are weird, if your friendships are changing because your values are changing, if it just seems like you are the only sane person on the planet, take heart. These may just be indicators that you’re changing to become more like Christ. Jesus did not come to leave us in the sinful state we are in. He came to save us. He didn’t just come to save us from hell, but to redeem us for heaven, an eternity with God. When we decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us and he will gradually (although sometimes it can be sudden and drastic) change us.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 2:14

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

John 14:15-17

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

John 14:26

Transformation is imperative in our faith journey. The Bible talks extensively about how we are to be different and how we are to be changing to be closer to what God wants us to be. These transformations are evidence of our faith in Jesus.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

Colossians 3:10-12

Your transformation shows that you are allowing God to work in you, that you are focusing on the things of God instead of the things of the world. God in you will make you look different to the world. That is because you have become other-worldly. Not from a different planet, but from a different kingdom. That kingdom is the kingdom of heaven. Once you arrive in the proper kingdom, you won’t be so weird anymore. all be rejoicing together.

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