Adorning my refrigerator is a rather large magnet that reads: Normal People Worry Me! I’ve told my closest friends they have no cause for concern, though, because there’s hardly a normal one in the bunch. Still, despite the lighthearted jest, I do believe that being abnormal is, in today’s world, a good thing, because the LORD doesn’t care for “normal” either.

How can we know this?  Obviously, the LORD doesn’t rely on magnets to make His thoughts known, but He has certainly given us His word, wherein, He speaks of His children thus:

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself… (Deuteronomy 14:2)

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14).

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people… (Exodus 19:5).

The word peculiar, in both Hebrew and Greek, has the same meaning; something that is uncommon, set-apart and very valuable. Quite the opposite, normal denotes that which is common or ordinary.  Hence, when looking back on my adolescent years, I find it humorous how often I then  lamented that, “I just want to be normal.”

Presently, normal is the last thing I want to be.  Which brings me back to the aforementioned magnet; whenever I see that humorous little phrase, “Normal People Worry Me,”  I sometimes take a moment to ask myself if my witness, as a believer, is commonplace and ordinary. After all, each of our lives, like a refrigerator magnet, clearly displays a message.

Dear reader,what message does your life display? Is it “peculiar” enough that people take notice of the LORD, whose ambassador you are. Or, is your life so normal, your Christian witness so common, that the world simply overlooks it?

It’s your choice, you can either blend into the world effortlessly, or you can choose to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (I Peter 2:9).