HAPPY MONDAY!!! I hope everyone had a FANTASTICAL weekend serving our Jesus!
This week’s devo is “I Don’t Want to be Normal” written by Kelli Lefevers Campbell! Kelli is someone who has wealth of knowledge in the area of your health! Please read as she shares her heart with us today!
I hope you have a wonderful week!
I Don’t Want to be Normal – Kelli Campbell
I have Celiac Disease. I was diagnosed over 16 years ago. Having celiac means I can’t have gluten, which is anything made with flour. Gluten is the protein in the wheat seed. It is the sticky stuff that holds bread together. If I eat gluten, besides feeling terrible and having severe pain, it would eventually kill me. Other grains bother me too, so I rarely eat them. I also can’t eat a lot of dairy, or I will get hives and asthma. Sugar makes me feel terrible, so I don’t eat a lot of that. My food life is boring and no fun!
Sometimes, I look at other people and what they eat, and wish I could be normal.
I have a skinny friend who eats ice cream every night AND has the nerve to post about it! I hate her. Wink, wink! I’m kidding, she’s wonderful! My husband is a Krispy Kreme fanatic. Do you know what it’s like to watch everyone around you enjoying these foods, and you can’t have them? I can never eat a normal pizza or a chocolate eclair. At church fellowships, I have to ask what is in everything. Most of the time, I can’t have it. I have learned to bring my own food. At the grocery store, I have to read EVERY label.
I started feeling sorry for myself a while back. I can’t have so many things that the typical person eats. I just wanted to be normal. I got tired of watching everyone else eat all of the “good” stuff. So, I started slipping and eating things I knew weren’t good for me. After a while of being “normal,” 20 extra pounds later, and some health problems, God showed me that my body can’t handle normal.
I felt terrible and hated how I looked. I needed to change my “normal” ways. It didn’t feel so appealing after being “normal” for a while, so I made some drastic changes.
I was curious and looked up the word “normal.” It is defined as conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type: typical, as expected.
God showed me I needed to change from my “normal” ways of eating, but then I started thinking about my Christian life. Was I normal in my Christian life, too?
Sadly, Christians today are “normal.” I looked up some statistics, and they honestly grieved me. I think you will be grieved too.
The American Bible Society 2020, Bible.org, and Pew Research said:
Only 9% of Christians read their Bible daily
42% said they never read the Bible
Less than 30% of Christians will ever read their Bible all the way through
Only 25% of Americans attend church & only 36% of those believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven
Only 22% of Christians believe the Bible is inspired
95% of Christians have never won a soul to Christ
80% of Christians don’t witness for Christ
Less than 2% are involved in evangelism
I don’t want to be normal!
I can’t even imagine how God feels about our normal. I imagine tears in His eyes and a broken heart when I think of Him seeing how we live. Sadly, we give God so little when He has given us so much!
Considering those statistics, the Bible tells us how to live a successful life, not a normal one.
2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” We grow and are strengthened by DAILY reading God’s word.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Corinthians-4-16/
Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” How can we neglect a God who DAILY loads us up with benefits?
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-68-19/
Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Jesus’ last command is to GO YE, to teach others, with a promise that He is with us. Yet only 2% are obeying Him.
1 Peter 1:15-16, says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” This world is corrupt! Are you normal, or are you trying to live a holy life?
No wonder our world is in such a mess! So many aren’t living like Christ, living holy, or doing any “Go Ye.”
How do we conform to God’s will? Just like I needed to change my food to be healthy, Christians sometimes need to change to become more like Christ and less like their own normal.
How to change!
We can apply this to any area of our lives: whether we want to lose weight, start exercising, be nice to our husbands, stop yelling at our kids, read our Bible daily, go soul-winning, or become the Christian God wants us to be.
You may be discouraged because you have tried to change but have always failed. You want to do right. Maybe you’ve given up trying. You’ve lost the same 20 pounds 20 times. You read your Bible for a few days, then quit, again. You got angry and yelled at your husband and kids …again.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ephesians-4-22/
The Bible tells us in Ephesians that three things must happen to experience real and lasting change.
1. Have a change of mind
2. Put off the wrong behavior
3. Put on the right behavior
We want to change instantly, but we have to work at it. Sometimes it is hard work.
1 Timothy 4:7, …exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
Exercise means physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive to condition any part of the body. Exercise, discipline, and patience…those words everyone hates.
Have you seen the 91-year-old lady who does gymnastics? She inspires me. I want to be like her. She is dedicated to what she loves. She has had to work hard to be able to do gymnastics at her age. I want to be dedicated to my Lord like she is to gymnastics. She started doing gymnastics at age 57. It is never too late to change! She doesn’t sit home on the couch watching TV and eating a Big Mac and fries. That’s the American normal.
Change begins with a change of mind.
A Change of Mind
Right now, think about what you need to change in your life. Whatever it is. How serious are you about change? About not being normal?
Change begins with a starting point. The starting point is on our knees in prayer, humbling ourselves before God, telling Him how sinful we have been, and how much we need His help. Telling Him how proud we have been in living our way and not denying ourselves. Repentance is a change of mind.
We must examine our motives and desires to change our minds and face the truth. Why do we do what we do? Why do I allow my desires to stop me from doing right? Why don’t I deny myself? Why don’t I have the right motives? Why do I allow myself to live in bondage? Why do I let my habits control me repeatedly without changing them?
If I eat a normal pizza, first, I will love every second of it. The taste, smell, and just being normal. Oh, so good!!!! A little later, I’m going to start feeling terrible. After that, I’m going to be in horrific pain. For days, I will be praying for God to help me. I’ll be saying, “Why did I do that?” Begging God for His mercy. “Take it away, Lord!” When it calms down, I forget about the pain and remember the pleasure and do it all over again. Sigh!
Victory happens when we deliberately choose to love, obey, and rely on God’s Word and His power. Praying for God to change me doesn’t work without effort. We have to humble ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to help us.
Using that same pizza story, same pain, same begging for mercy. This time, I will remember the pain of not denying myself instead of the pleasure by humbling myself. This time I will say, “Holy Spirit, you know how much I love pizza and really want it. Please help me to take care of my body instead of my desires. I know if I eat it, it will make me so sick. Please help me to overcome this desire and overcome my flesh.” It took some time to say no to my flesh and desires, but I haven’t had a normal pizza in over 16 years, and I’m good with that. God helped me to overcome my desires. I’m so grateful God has allowed me to remember the pain of my actions, so I don’t want to repeat them. And I’m grateful for gluten-free pizza.
Putting Off & Putting On
This means putting off a bad habit or sin. If we continue to feed our habit or sin, meaning to do it over and over again, it will get stronger and harder to overcome, but it is not impossible.
We have to exercise putting off the sinful and exercising putting on what is right and godly, just like the 91-year-old lady doing gymnastics. I’m sure it was uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but now, at 91, to her, it is effortless and second nature. It truly inspired me that she started over at 57. It’s never too late to put off and put on.
We have to stop living by feelings. We typically live by how we feel instead of living by principle or God’s word. We must look at our responses and way of life and measure them using God’s Word. Are we being obedient? Have we developed a pattern of doing things God’s way or a pattern of doing things our way? Don’t live by feelings! They aren’t truth and are the greatest hindrance to living a godly life.
The struggle comes when we want to change immediately. New behavior takes about three weeks to become less strange and uncomfortable. Sadly, we give up after three days.
Let’s say we aren’t reading our Bibles daily. We ask God to forgive us and ask Him to help us. We read the Bible for a few days, and it was great. We are doing well. Then everything breaks loose! Do we stop? No, pick up and start again! I wonder how often the 91-year-old lady fell before she made the Olympic team? Don’t give up! Success comes from daily repeating the right behavior!
I want to encourage and influence ladies not to be normal Christians. Let’s be all that Christ wants us to become. I would hate for a 91-year-old lady to be more committed to a sport than for us, as Christians, to become more like Christ.
I don’t want to be normal. Do you?
https://www.sappsolutely.com/devotions/i-dont-want-to-be-normal-kelli-campbell
Life is hard. Kindness, courage, and love will help you prosper.
