Rebel with a Cause

Christians should be rebels. I don’t mean it in a way that we rebel against everything the world has to offer, just for the sake of rebellion. Nor do I mean it in the way that we fall for every conspiracy theory out there, just for the purpose of not being “blind.”
Rebels are nonconformists.

We rebel by nonconforming to how the world expects us to love each other. Christians should be rebels for love, fighting against the standards and the procedures of the world.  We should be reaching out to the ignored and the hated. We should rebel from what the world thinks of us, because, frankly, they don’t think very highly of us right now. We should live in such a biblical Jesus-loving way that we are instantly rebelling.

Convinced yet?
Let me indulge.

Christians are always on the go, go, go, but are we going in the right direction? Sure, we have churches booming, but I can’t tell you if it’s the result of the comfortable atmospheres or a moving Spirit. What I can tell you is that the life of a Christian will not always be comfortable, especially when we do it right. If we follow God, if we live these rebel lives, things are going to get hairy. It’s part of the territory. To be rebels, we have to train ourselves to be expedient in our obedience, even when the call is inconvenient.

That’s the whole rebel portion of this.

The world will look and see that your calling makes no sense, and will recognize your rebellion by seeing you continue down that path. It might not be safe or practical, but who can deny an all-knowing God? Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that He knows the plans for us, so nothing is dangerous in the midst of the Lord. Depending on your definition of dangerous, that is.

Now, you might be thinking, “that’s for those other guys.” I know, you mean the locust-eating, Chaco wearing types. I think I mixed up my comparisons.

Part of rebellion is remembering that God is not prejudiced and loves all people. Well, if He loves all people, then that also means he calls all people. Sure, everyone’s calling is different, but it doesn’t mean that God is not pulling you in some direction to use your life as a demonstration. He is continually guiding us in different ways, and you may never quite know the impact you’re making. Here’s where faith comes in. We have to be connected in the unexpected. We have to be connected to God to know that He’s got all kinds of things moving in the background.

A slow season of your life is really a growing period.
A moment of weakness is an example to someone afraid to admit they’re broken.
A time of study is an encouragement for another to do the same.
Remember when Jonah left the path that God set before him? He went off course, got stuck in a storm, and eventually had to jump out of the boat to calm things down. Jonah had to go down before he could help other people get up.

God works all things for His good, including the stuff in and out of our control. Not every storm we go through is payback for our disobedience. Sometimes these storms just bring the rain to help other parts of our lives to grow. If we can get out of that mindset, thinking, “woe is me,” or thinking that our storm is solely because of our sin, then we can get to a new place of rebellion. We can get to a new place where we feel connected, even at a distance. If we want to be connected, we need to try and send some good connections to others.

We need to rebel against the world’s idea of who Christians are and show them the reality of who God is.
That’s a rebel with a cause.

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