About this blog and the weird ways it will help you see God everyday
I’ve been told I can be very weird. And if I’m completely honest with myself, I know that I am. And I’m somewhat that proud of that. Maybe even in some cases it’s what makes people like me. But what I never expected was that God would use my weird. That He would see potential in weird. And that he’d actually try to reveal Himself through it.
But He did. And that’s why you are reading this today.
I’m convinced now that God created my weird to take YOU through your own weird journey. And that weird journey, might be a very different kind of weird than one you are thinking.
To get you thinking along the right track, I’d like to define the word “weird” for you.
Definition of Weird
“Suggesting something supernatural, uncanny.”
Well...what’s that supposed to mean? Let’s break that definition down further...
Definition of Supernatural
“A manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature”
Uncanny
“Strange or mysterious”
When we look at the word “weird” in this perspective, it suddenly takes on a different meaning. “Weird” no longer looks like Will Farrell, it looks like something very different. By using the reference to Supernatural, or "some force beyond scientific understanding" as it is defined, it starts to take on a shape that looks a whole lot more like God to me.
In fact, the origin of the word “weird” comes from the old english word “wyrd” which meant “having the power to control destiny”. Based on this, it sounds to me like the word “weird” originally did, in someway, tie to God.
And if you think about it, that really is a great perspective when it comes to God. He is “weird” to us. We can’t see Him, therefore He is mysterious. He is THE force behind scientific understanding of the laws of nature. And, the suggestion of God to some can be uncanny.
But, because we believe in God and not the broad word of “supernatural”, we get to redefine weird. So plugging into the definition as defined above we get...
Weird
“Suggesting God in strange or mysterious ways”
What I love about this redefinition is that “weird” actually defines how God spoke to us in the bible. God spoke to us in weird, mysterious ways. And He did so using metaphors. Or what we can also call “word pictures”.
Word pictures are expressions that paint a picture in the mind of the reader or listener. They were used throughout the bible to pack profound meaning into very few words. Jesus was the master of using them. In fact, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used over 50 different Word pictures to teach the crowd.
Word pictures in the bible had one thing in common. They were everyday things. He used seeds, fruit, trees, eyes, bread, fish, water...the list goes on and on.
For example, in Acts 19, Saul (Paul before he was a good guy) was still threatening the disciples when He was suddenly blinded by Jesus. He couldn’t see anything for three days until Jesus sent Ananias:
“So Anaias left and entered the house. Then he placed his hands on him and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained sight. Then he got up and was baptized”
In this passage, God used the everyday thing of “sight” to demonstrate that when we do not believe in Jesus we are blind to the truth, but when we do believe in Him, we can see the truth. This word picture about sight representing belief in God was used more than once in the bible. And it’s a significant one because it reinforces God’s desire for us to “see” Him.
The everyday things God used in the bible were so people could visually “see” His message, in addition to hearing the truth. In doing so. He created wisdom though His witnesses and believers. People who were compelled to spread the gospel had stories to share that people would understand. Stories that would have significant meaning in very few words. These Word pictures allowed people to “see”, not just hear, the Word of God.
God continues to use Word pictures today. Those that He has called into ministry use them all the time to develop the compelling sermons that relate to you on Sunday morning. He uses them in the Christian books we read and the movies that we watch. He uses them in the songs we hear on Christian radio. We are surrounded by people that God uses to communicate His Word pictures to us nearly everyday.
But Word pictures aren’t just for those called into some sort of ministry or Christian profession. Word pictures are for all of us. Everyday people doing everyday things. All we have do is change our perspective. We start by looking at everyday things differently.
Through the eyes of God.
As we look at our everyday things, we can ask ourselves, what story is God trying to tell through this thing. What Word picture is hiding for our discovery?
I don’t know the moment in time that I started seeing God’s Word pictures in my everyday life, but once the flood gates opened, the Holy Spirit just came gushing in and doesn’t stop. I can be in a moment of quiet reflection, a loud room or driving down the road and God will bring some Word picture into my focus. This blog is a journey through those Word pictures. Some serious, some seriously weird. Sometimes profound, sometimes oddly funny. But all Godly visions of how we should view and live our lives.
My hope for this blog is that is inspires you to take the scales off your eyes to view your everyday things differently. That it helps you to visualize God during the course of your everyday. And mostly, that it makes you comfortable looking at the world in a “weird” new way that reveals God’s truth and direction for living your life.