That's Weird!

"But everyone else is doing it!" a child whines to his parents when questioned about dress or behavior that isn't particularly a good choice. We laugh when we think of the question often repeated by the parents: "If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?"

This rhetorical question is meant to show the idiocy of blindly following another person's behavior without question. Even as adults, we are not immune to peer pressure. It's easy to get caught up in doing what seems to be all the rage. We see it everywhere -- in business, movies and TV, education, and in fashion. Let one idea become successful, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon doing the same thing, with maybe a slight variation.

Even churches and Christians get sucked into it, purporting to have the latest and greatest thing, whether it be a new book, a new seminar, or a new music style. Most of us are basically copycats, and sometimes we are just too lazy to use our imagination to come up with a new idea.

Call me crazy, but I have always had a desire to be different. I don't know if being one of fourteen children instilled this desire for uniqueness in me or not, but I never wanted to be the same as anyone else. I have always tended to be independent and take the less traveled path. It wasn't so much that I was seeking attention, because I was naturally shy. It was just that I saw everyone around me following the herd, conforming to the normal, and wondered why. It seemed quite natural for me to question the logic and test the normal. It wasn't always the easy way, and it sometimes isolated me, but it was my way, and the way I felt God wanted me to go.

If God wanted everyone to think alike, look alike, talk alike, and act alike, why did he make us so different? If He needed us to conform to a cookie-cutter life, why would He give us different ideas, different interests, and different talents? I think we have missed the plans He has for us by copying the plan He has for others.

It takes effort, and maybe even a little courage, to be different from those around us. We may have to work a little harder to forge our own path, but the result is well worth the effort.

 If a child is encouraged to follow his/her interests and talents in choosing an occupation, rather than settling for what the parents think is most practical, he/she may come up with ideas and plans that go far beyond the capacity of parents and find a new occupation that’s never been done before. For example, suppose Thomas Edison’s parents had insisted that he not waste his time trying to invent things that no one had ever heard of, such as a light bulb. We might all still be in the dark.

If we think like normal people and behave like normal people, we can expect to lead a normal life. But is that what you want? God wants us to be unique. First Peter 1:15 says, "...be ye holy for I am holy." We often define the word "holy" as "sinless," but there's a broader meaning. It also means to be set apart, different, or unique.

As much as anything, I believe that God wants us to be the unique person He made us and to fulfill the unique plan He has for our lives. If we try to follow His plan for someone else, we are missing the mark. In John 21:19, when Jesus told Peter to follow Him, Peter turns to John and asks Jesus, "What do you want him to do?"

Jesus answered, "If I want him to wait until I come, what is that to you?"  In other words, He was basically saying, "It's none of your business what I want someone else to do!"  


One of the most unique individuals in the Bible was John the Baptist. We accept his strange clothing (camel's hair), his strange diet (locusts and wild honey), and his lifestyle (living alone in the desert - a remote place) because in hindsight we see how effective he was despite his weirdness. He was so unique that crowds of people followed him asking if he were the Messiah. John rightly pointed them to Jesus, but he was so different, so weird, that people knew he was special. Jesus himself said of John, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist…”

If we want to reach our ultimate potential in life, we must be willing to be different, even to be weird in the eyes of the world, to go where others have not gone, or where angels fear to tread, to follow God’s unique plan for our lives.

Even the world recognizes giftedness when they see a truly unique person who is worthy of attention. These trend-setters are the ones who win acclaim. They are the ones who become the next great thing, not those who follow in their footsteps.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  He made us and set a plan in place for us to find and fulfill. Allow God to make and mold you into his unique creation, and search out the unique plan He has in mind for you. Don’t be afraid to be weird, if that’s what others think of you, as long as you are following God’s plan.

That’s what I think…what do you think?