When you go to a school like Lee University, it’s easy to get wrapped up in appearance. For me, so many insecurities came with walking on a campus in the Bible Belt with a lion tattooed on my back and a hoop in my nose. From the beginning, my heart was hardened. I felt like in order to be a good Christian, there was this Starbucks and Patagonia mold I had to squeeze myself into. I felt like in order to be accepted, I had to take one kind of picture and make Philippians 4:13 the caption. But the truth is, and I learned this very quickly that your relationship with Jesus isn’t about how spiritual you look through an Instagram filter.
I was so worried about being judged that that’s exactly what I began doing to everyone else. My generalizations and misconceptions turned into this standard I set for myself for earning God’s love. I didn’t believe that anyone would take me as I was, so I didn’t believe God would take me as I was. God quickly turned my comfort in rejecting any opportunity at acceptance into a hunger for community, and in that I learned so much about what it meant to truly live for God.
Among people, living for God may come with general convictions and a moral standard, but we, as Christians, are called to individuality.
"14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body."
1 Corinthians 12:14-20
So, to the kid struggling to see their place in the Christian community:
Don’t harden your heart toward other Christians because they don’t look like you, or because they don’t worship like you. Don’t turn away from an opportunity at a relationship with God because He has made your calling look different than everyone else’s. But most of all don’t let your fear of conviction prevent you from going deeper. Embrace your individuality, because God wants to use you, and has designed your for a purpose if you’re willing to be obedient.
To the Christian struggling to maintain individuality:
Don’t let your environment be an excuse. If you are in a place where being a Christian means being speculated and judged, be a city on a hill. Don’t get tired of doing good things, because you will reap what you’ve sowed.
I challenge you all with this: accept the discomfort and let it grow you. You’ll find peace, love and community along the way. I know I did.
