My Church Normal

What’s Standing In Your Way? – Part 1

What could your “church normal” be standing in the way of?

“Your church normal: the church you grew up in.” – Chris Hodges

Even your church normal can stand in the way of you hearing from or knowing what God wants you to know. I’ll go as far as to say, if the truth is known, your church normal is standing in the way of you becoming all God wants you to be and even more importantly all you’re capable of becoming. “Church normal” becomes a problem only when it remains “normal”. “Normal” isn’t God’s way and it’s not the way to being uncommon. It might be standing in the way of you having what He wants you to have.

When I was “Baptist”, not baptized, but baptist, there were certain parts of the Bible we stayed away from. Like the Songs of Solomon. We couldn’t talk like that in the church. Talk like what? The Bible, in Songs of Solomon, speaks on dating and couples. Romance and oh yeah…sex. We stayed away from the book of Revelation. We didn’t spend much time there either. Maybe an occasional lesson on the 2nd coming to scare the young, the old, and those in between, into salvation. There were certain biblical subjects that weren’t addressed like speaking in tongues and prosperity. You could certainly scratch out any lessons on “The Holy Ghost (Spirit). You’d have to get that on your own. Your “church normal” may be limiting, it is limiting, what God has in store for you.

When I was Pentecostal, I realized that Pentecostals were strange when compared to Baptists, which was my “church normal.” They believed, unlike Baptists, of outward expressions of their faith. They believed in speaking in tongues and laying prostrate before God. You know the kind of stuff you think of when you think of a spirit-filled person. And what was wrong with that? Absolutely nothing, they simply focused on worshiping God more than the Baptists. The point is this, our “church norms” will get in the way of learning from others who are on the same team and members of the same body-Christ’s.

Could your “church normal” be staying in your way of adding an unfair advantage to your gifts, talents, and skills?

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “…The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them [naturally]. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at [what’s uncommon] the heart.”” – bible.com/116/1sa.16.7.nlt

Be careful not to eliminate those who God has selected just because you have fallen head over heels for your “church normal” [the exterior] and not for God who is not normal and sees what matters most. I’m introducing you to the barriers that might be getting in your way to becoming more than just an average human-being.

Before I get into those barriers, let me offer just one word of advice that might help. Focus on the good you can find in others and not the things you don’t like. Make it your practice to look for the positives. Train yourself, as I do, to see the gifts in others.

“The reason it’s normal to locate the differences in others is because it stands out from what we are and see in ourselves.”
– Finding the Best in Everyone We Meet

In finding the good, the negatives won’t matter as much. You’ll find a way to rid yourself of a barrier that’s keeping you from greatness. Don’t allow a “church normal” to block a view of God that has the ability to transform you into a force the earth has never seen.