Being Countercultural

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9 ESV

In this scripture, God lets us know that we are a chosen race, the human race whom He has made in His image. The King James Version of this scripture includes the phrase "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." I pondered on what this meant when God calls us "peculiar." What does it mean to be peculiar?

pe·cu·liar /pəˈkyo͞olyər/ adjective

1. strange or odd; unusual  2. particular, special

noun (British)

a parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese in which it lies, through being subject to the jurisdiction of the monarch or an archbishop.

God calls us His chosen people, His people set apart to be different. Weird, even. We are called by God to be countercultural, to move differently from the rest of the world. What I find very interesting is the second defintion listed above. In the English culture, a pecuilar is a person or set of people who are set free from the set of rules implemented by the diocese (in Ancient Rome, dioceses were political not religious leaders) or regional leader of the group of people, but responsible for following the rules of the monarch or higher power.

As a people, we are called to not be bound by the rules or principalities of a region, but to answer directly to the High Priest being Jesus the Christ. The peculiarity of God's people is what makes us countercultural because we are not bound to the powers of the region. As a matter of fact, we are called to exert power over them. "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4 ESV)." What is a stronghold in relation to spiritual warfare?

strong·hold /ˈstrôNGˌhōld/ noun

1. a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack. 
2. a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld.

It is not God's design for us to fit in, nor blindly accept the norms of today's culture if they are not in alignment with the Word of God and are therefore wicked. It grieves the heart of God to see His children being okay with wickedness and accepting it as "just the way things are" as oppposed to actively walking in the authority that we have over it. "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you" (Luke 10:19 ESV). 

It all starts in the mind. Our lives will reflect what we believe is okay and acceptable. Worse than that, our lives will reflect what idols we strongly defend. We should not defend anything more than we defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God. We should not defend our jobs more, our families more, our businesses more, our gender more, our race more, our desires more, or our own wills more than we defend Jesus. This does not always mean that every five seconds we pull out a Bible and stop every person we see and read a scripture to them. But this does mean the posture of hearts should constantly be in a state that honors God, a state of worship, that allows Him to move however He sees fit. The moment we allow something else to take that place in our hearts and minds is the moment we allow wickedness and idolatry to enter. We are not guaranteed a perfect walk, but we should never cease pursuit of Him. Intimacy with God is about more than just acknowledging that He exists; it is about revolving our whole life around Him. Every thought, every belief, every word, and every action.

As believers and children of God, we belong to God and walk in the excellencies of the One we love. We live according to the culture of Heaven and our Heavenly King and we are unusual compared to those who follow the culture and powers of this world. When gazing upon the light of Jesus, the darkness becomes even more repulsive. When sitting in the power and authority of the Lord (Ephesians 2:6), the strongholds of this world begin to get even weaker. 

More life to you, beloved.