Blending in. 

Something most Christians are very good at.

And why wouldn't we want to be? If no one looks at us differently, talks to us differently, or acts differently around us, that's a good thing, right? 

While there is certainly something to be said about being "among the people" to minister "to the people", Christ has not called us to fit in. Tell me: what about Jesus fit in?

I saw those blank stares! Nothing. Nothing about Christ blended in. From his "abandon all you think you know" attitude, to flipping over tables in the temple, to accusing the Pharisees (the holier-than-thou's of Jesus' time) of not following God, to being killed by the people he came to save.

So, what gives Christians the idea that we need to blend in? Is it popular media? What about the universally human desire to be accepted?

Frankly, I don't think it matters where it came from. What does matter? Our need for change. Do the people around you know you're a Christian? (In parallel, did the people around Christ know he was the Son of God?) Is there evidence in your behavior and your decisions that points towards your salvation? Towards your verbally proclaimed faith? 

OR

Are you just another statistic in the mind of the unbeliever? Are you just another hypocrite? Another phoney? Do you fit every stereotype of "Christians"? Are you "religious" or are you living for Jesus?

Here's your challenge: live differently. Take a risk in favor of the way Christ would do things, regardless of how people will treat you, talk to you, or look at you afterwards. Stand out.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." --Romans 12:2