Be Bold and Set Apart

John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey." Matthew 3:4 BSB

“Oh man. My quads are kinda tender,” I told my sweet husband as I slowly climbed into the car to go home after finishing up the second round of the Dogwood Challenge trail run (and completing the Back2Back Challenge in the process as well) yesterday morning. Two days of running up and down the Ozark Mountains with seriously steep accents and gnarly downward descents, with their jagged rocks and ruts, had taken its toll on my legs. But like most of the other runners who completed day one, day two, or both days, I left the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park with a huge smile on my face and a desire to come back and do it all again in 2024. You can be sure my idea of fun makes me seem very ‘weird’ to the world but quite normal to my fellow runners. 

And you know, being known as weird should be what every Christian strives for—since being odd sets us apart from the world. Consider the example of John the Baptist who “wore a garment of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey." Talk about weird! John was different from any one the people of his day had seen. But his strangeness is the very thing that attracted people to him! They all wanted to see this man who was so different from everyone else so much that they came out to the desert to hear the daring words John spoke, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near." 

So don’t be afraid to be bold and set apart my friend! Be weird in the way that people see you following Jesus at all costs and come to know that you are anything but normal. After all, being strange and unusual may be the very thing that draws people to you… and when they’re drawn to you, you can share the Good News. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that as followers of Jesus we are to be set apart and totally different from the world. May we be so different that others would be curious as to why, and then be drawn to us that we might share the Good News of the gospel with them. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!