The Danger of Normal

nor·mal

ˈnôrməl/

adjective

1. 1.

   conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

Such a sly, two syllable word!  It sneaks up on you without calling any attention to itself.  You don't realize that it is there until one day it has become your world.

Have you ever driven to work or school or church and just kinda tuned out until suddenly you are there?  You wonder how in the world you managed to drive that far without really noticing anything around you!  

                             

You just function on autopilot and go through your normal routine.  

If you have experienced something like this you have fallen victim to "normal," the usual, typical or standard way you function throughout your day.

At face value, this might seem like a good thing.  You made it to your destination safely didn't you?

Yes...but...what did you miss? During the drive you could have passed someone on the side of the road changing a tire or children playing in a field you pass by. Maybe the shop that you always drive passed has put up an Annual Sale 50% Off sign.  So many opportunities missed because of functioning in "normal."

What about the times that you are driving in autopilot and you suddenly run over debris in the road?  Or you don't notice traffic stopping ahead and you have to slam on the breaks....worse yet you rear-end the car in front of you.  Sometimes normal can be a distraction of obstacles in the road...things go unnoticed.

 

Our lives can be like driving a car on autopilot.  We become so immersed and comfortable in our "normal" that we miss opportunities and we don't notice obstacles that arise.  We can get so focused on what is going on in our lives and in our little world that we forget there is a bigger picture, a bigger world.  And that bigger world is made up of people that are crying out for help....and we can't hear them because we don't notice them.

                                                   

We go throughout our day, our routine, our normal, and we get distracted by the lists in our heads.  Lists of things we need to do, things we need to buy, things we need to remember and these things all revolve around "we."  Because in normal our world revolves around me.

Many times these are good things. We plan activities for our churches, buy groceries for our families, and remember things we need to do for health.  But we get so caught up in our world and in our normal that we don't notice the abnormal until it is so big and so different and sometimes so horrible that we have to slam on our breaks.

Why is it that we have to see appalling pictures of ISIS before we pray for those that are persecuted? 

Why is it that we have to watch a disgusting, racist video of college students before we cry out to God to change the heart of our society?

Why is it that we have to watch movies that show scenes depicting the bondage the enemy has the world in before we feel like we need to spread the news of Jesus?

                           

Wanna know why? 

It's because we are so caught up in our normal that we walk right past a person in pain.  If we would just slow down a bit and really see people we could see it all over their faces!  

The world is hurting and crying out for help.  We know that politics won't heal what is broken and we know that humanitarian aid can only help so much.  The one, true fix is the love of a Father who sent His son to take on the burden and punishment of our iniquities so that through him, Jesus, we might be saved.  

                           

                          

But friend, we are not saved by grace so that we can lead a normal life and make it safely to our destination! We are saved so that we can go out to the world and share that grace with others!   

Normal is my enemy!  I fight normal every day, because it is so, so easy for me to slip into it.Normal is comfortable. But normal keeps me from seeing people.  

And when I don't see people, I don't love people.  

And when I don't love people, I don't reach out to people.  

And when I don't reach out to people, I take what my Father gave me and I bury it into the ground for safe-keeping until His arrival.  

And when I bury it, what type of greeting will He give me on His return?........

     "... 'Well done, good and faithful servant!"

or......
     "... throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

(Mathew 25:14-30)

Normal is dangerous.