Ragamuffins In A Cool World

Now I'm not a very charismatic guy. Any of you who know me would agree: Chris doesn't have a 'rollin'-in-the-aisles kind of temperament (actually, I wonder how many 'melancholics' do...but that's for another post...). So I hesitate posting this lest someone might get the wrong idea...but I just really like this kid listening to David Crowder. Would you have the nerve to just let loose in the middle of your city?

We are called to be "aliens and strangers in the world" (NIV) (or "exiles and sojourners" as the ESV puts it). See 1 Peter1:1;  2:11 and Hebrews 11:13. So I must ask: how well do you "fit in?" Is that a problem for you? Are you as cool as the world? Is the vortex of coolness sucking you in?

Regarding these verses, I've over time kept and added to a little list of words that I think should define me as a Christian. I'm working on living up to it, though I admit it can be a struggle because * gosh darn it! * we all crave acceptance, right? Anyway, try these words on for size and see if they describe your walk in this world:

Alien

Stranger

Sojourner

Pilgrim

Wayfarer

Itinerant

Vagabond

Misfit

Ragamuffin
 Fool

Billy Graham once described evangelism as merely one beggar showing another beggar where to find food. Like it or not, we are spiritual beggars, ragamuffins. When we try real hard to look like something other than - something cooler than - a ragamuffin, we start to assimilate the culture and it starts to have more of an effect on us than we do on the culture. So, it seems, we need to learn how to be more of a misfit, not less.

I can barely remember that old Baptist spiritual - how's it go? "This world is not my home; I'm just a-passin' through...."

Or, to quote Switchfoot, "I'll be a Beautiful Letdown, the painfully uncool - the Church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures...and the fools..."

How about you? What words would you add to define the Christian's place in the world?