Christian Matters
Faith Beyond the Mold
God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to lie on his side for 390 days, and then on his other side for 40 days—symbolizing the years of judgment for the sins of Israel and Judah, respectively.
It may seem like a strange request from God, and while I can only imagine how people back then reacted, I have a strong sense of how people today would respond.
If God told me to lie on my side in front of my church, I can already picture the reactions. Some would insist God would never ask anyone to do something so strange, telling me to get up because I was embarrassing the church. Others might say I was wasting time and should get a job—after all, lying there for 430 days would seem lazy and pointless to them. Some would laugh, assuming I’d completely lost my mind. And many would probably ask, “Don’t you have a family to take care of?”
Our compromised version of Christianity has produced a faithless generation—one that has boxed God into a rigid, formulaic, pretentious, and anesthetized religion. Imagine how today’s church would respond to the heroes of Scripture: Noah would be dismissed as a lunatic for building an ark when rain had never fallen. Moses would be questioned for leading people into the wilderness without a clear plan. Abraham would be told to stop wandering and settle down. John the Baptist? He’d be written off as a homeless eccentric—maybe even accused of being on drugs. The disciples might be labeled a ragtag bunch of drifters. Paul the Apostle could be criticized as a “church hopper” who refused to stay rooted. And if God asked Mary to carry His Son today, people would likely assume she’d been unfaithful to Joseph.
And Jesus? Many would see Him as the ultimate homeless wanderer—out of place, out of touch, and certainly not fitting into our polished Christian mold.
Christians today have become so rigid that if God showed up in a cloud or spoke through a donkey, many would likely schedule a therapy session instead of falling to their knees in awe. I can already hear the modern-day chorus: “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.” I understand there are those who chase after the wrong things—the superstitious, the mystics, the sensationalists, the constant sign-seekers. But these individuals aren’t truly heavenly minded; they’re driven by emotion, craving dramatic and wondrous signs to fill a void that only Christ is meant to satisfy. They haven’t set their minds on things above—their heads are simply stuck in the clouds.
But I want to be heavenly minded—anchored in the truth of God’s Word, with my thoughts fixed on His Kingdom—because that’s the only way I can truly be of any good in this world. At the same time, I want to remain open to the reality that God often works in ways we don’t fully understand—ways that may even contradict our neat little Christian box.
We’re called to have a child-like faith—a faith that believes God can do wondrous things, speak in unexpected ways, and move through us using methods that may seem impractical, unreasonable, or even undignified. But if God calls, it’s our responsibility to answer—regardless of how it looks.
Sometimes, I believe God works this way on purpose—to break us out of our comfort zones, to disrupt our routines, and to awaken our spirit from the slumber of safe, predictable Christianity.
Maybe the next time we see someone spending all day in God’s Word, instead of telling them to “go get a job,” we should consider that God might be doing something in their life for a season. When someone moves from one church to another, perhaps it’s not instability—it could be that God is growing them or using them to strengthen another part of the body. And it’s not foolish to pause and gaze at the clouds, to be reminded of the wonder of God’s creation and how He speaks through it.
The key to avoiding a head-in-the-clouds faith while not boxing God in is to pursue Him with all our heart and mind. In that sincere pursuit, we’ll find that God works in unexpected, even mysterious ways—ways that ultimately build up His Kingdom.
