Uncommon Sense

As seen in the HEARTbeat and Village Voice

“Uncommon Sense”

             Common.  It is something that you can find almost anywhere.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines common as: “Occurring, found, or done often, as in ‘salt and pepper are the two most common seasonings.’”  It can also be used to define proximity, as in “two countries share a common border.”

            When something is common it seems to be unobtrusive.  Its presence is expected and is unsurprising.  Some common things even go unnoticed, as you pass them every day.  It’s not until something changes and becomes new, such as a new color on a house, that you notice it and it moves from common, as we see it daily, to new with the change in paint color.

            When did our culture move from common to uncommon?  When exactly and why did the counter-culture become common?  I guess we need to first define what the counter-culture is – “a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm.” 

Experts agree the counter-culture we are seeing in our own country, as well as around the world began in the 1960’s with the green movement, the hippie movement, polygamist groups, and the feminist movement.  Now, before you storm my castle, let me say here that there are some good intentions in all movements, at least from the standpoint of the originators (I’ll not include the polygamist movement under that statement).  The green movement brought awareness to our environment.  The hippie movement caused people to look at life a little more relaxed, and the feminist movement brought to light the inequality of treatment of the sexes in the workplace.  With everything that can be said that is good about the movements, there are always individuals that desire to be more radical in their approaches within the ideologies.

Here is a question for you:  Was Jesus a counter-culture individual?  Some would argue by definition He was.  He was definitely uncommon, as He was a devout Jew, never having sinned – EVER!  He did not conform to the Pharisee’s or the Sadducee’s additional laws imposed upon the people.  He also displayed extreme knowledge of the law and the prophets.  So why was Jesus seen as threat?

The ruling elite class of Jesus’ day had a good thing going on, at least in their eyes.  They were privileged and saw themselves as in control of their society.  The problem was their way of life was oppressive to the common person.  Jesus’ teachings had God the Father as the ultimate authority.  It was He who gave the law and it was sufficient.  It was the ruling class that added so many other laws on top of it, so much so the God’s original law was being over-shadowed.  Jesus came to serve notice things were changing.

We need to be counter-culture Christians today.  There seems to be a common distancing of denominations from God’s Word.  Pastors are teaching their own interpretation of scripture, leaving the initial intent of God’s instructions.  No matter what Christian ideology you may follow, always test what you hear against God’s Word.

Today, walk in the world as if you are different.  If you have given your life to Christ, you are different; your home is not in this world.  Be kind in pointing out the things in this world not of God and love your neighbor.  God will smile upon you when you do.