Holy Rebellion
Bet you saw that title and thought, Is this girl on crack? I probably would too. How do those two words go together? I think you would be surprised at how these two words are connected. Hang with me for a moment.
Holy: “Set part.” That makes sense, right? God is holy. He is set apart from man. You can’t say he broke the mold because He literally created it and continues to break it because no person He has created is the same.
Rebellion: “Refusal to obey rules.” If there are rules to be broken, then you’re most likely going to break them. You don’t conform to the rules of the world.
Catch that last part? You don’t conform to the world…..Like, I don’t know, maybe you are set apart from the world? Am I reaching on this? Some might think so, and that is okay! I want you to question what you read because questions get the ball rolling on creating your foundation. Trust me- I am the literal queen of questions. Especially when I am diving deep into the Bible, but in those questions, I have found what I believe.
Okay, now let’s talk.. Rebel to rebel here. Straight talk. Real talk. We are called to go against the world because the world is not our end goal. What we do here doesn’t just end when we close our eyes for the last time. What we do here paves the way for our eternal life. Being a holy rebel for Jesus means living so deeply in your faith, having courageous defiance of literally anything that goes against God’s truth and love. It’s not about being a rebel just to be a rebel and have that title, it’s about being boldly different in the world that often goes against Jesus and his teaching.
John 15:19 ESV
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Jesus reminds us that following Him means not fitting in with the values of the world. It will make us unpopular, or it will be totally inconvenient in our worldly eyes…you might even risk relationships when you make this choice. We are called to turn away from the values of being selfish, prideful, and just sin in general; instead, we have to live differently- we will love like Jesus, we will give Grace when the world says you shouldn’t, showing humility is one that I am constantly working on.
The bible is FULL of Holy Rebels! That verbiage isn’t used, but I would like to think my Jesus is cool with this. Personally, I think Jesus has a sense of humor and has some sarcastic tendencies like His humor is probably on point.
I love John the Baptist- He lived radically for Jesus. John would tell people to straight up repent, and he was the one who prepared the way for Jesus.
You have Peter and the Apostles. We know they weren’t rule followers of the word because in Acts 5:29 they were commanded to stop preaching the word and about Jesus, and they nah bro. Okay, so maybe not like that, however, they did say, “ We must obey God rather than men.” Ope. Again, breaking the rules of the world because they have been set apart from man to live for God.
Now this next one I feel like gets overlooked often, which is a true shame. Maybe I have a soft spot for this person because she is a woman. Mary Magdalene. Now, I know if you have any Biblical knowledge, you are wondering where I am going with this, but I want you to really think about this. She was so judged for her past. No one loved her, BUT GOD. She went outside of the expectations the world had set for her and became a close follower of Jesus, and was one of the first to witness his resurrection. Also, can we talk about being a woman in this time (a man-ruled world) and then look at her story and not think wow. Talk about a Holy Rebellion (See what I did there?) She literally went against man and what the woman is supposed to be like to follow Jesus.
But can we talk about the biggest rebel? Hellllooooo JESUS! Jesus literally broke social rules, religious barriers, and loved the unlovable. He loved the outcast, the sinner, the broken people. He loved every single person.
Being a rebel doesn’t mean you just love the easy people…no, it’s about choosing radical compassion to those who have hurt you the most. The person who physically hurt you, the people who talk about you behind your back, the people who try and turn the world against you. The world says we should turn our backs on them, but Jesus literally says in Luke:
Luke 6:27-28 ESV
Love Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Oooooffff. This is what a Holy Rebellion looks like. Going against what the world says because Jesus says something different. We were created for something different.
Now, I am going to put this. I am NOT saying to go out in the world and break rules that can cause harm to you or anyone. What I am saying is breaking the social norms because, as Christians, we just don’t fit into that box. After all, once again, Jesus doesn’t fit in that box, so we don’t either by default.
Maybe..just maybe we have been looking at the word rebel in the wrong context or the wrong light. Maybe being a rebel isn’t entirely a bad thing.
