What's the difference in me?

Have you ever heard anyone say: "Christians need to be different?  That we need to be different than the world.  A light in a dark place.  In the world, but not of the world?"  Did you understand it?  Did you get what it meant?  What exactly needs to be different?  Where do I draw the line on being in the world, but not of it?  It seems messy, and it can be.

For the longest time in my life I thought very legalistically about this.  I thought that I needed to not drink, swear less, bring God into every conversation, and avoid any situation/person that might cause me to get away from this.  I basically wanted to follow God without the relationship with God.  You see, in order to be different like Christ wants us to be, we need to know the person God wants us to be like.  Walking around avoiding "bad things" is not going to look very enticing to someone who doesn't know God.  All that looks like is a life of boredom and constant frustration from not being able to do the things I once found fun.

The sad thing is, I still live my life this way at times and would venture to guess that others do too.  I get upset about having to be different.  About not getting to do "whatever the heck I want", and having to live to a different standard.  These are the times that I'm not investing in the relationship.  That I'm trying to do things on my own.  Christs standard can't be achieved without the relationship with the one who sets the standard.  The Christian life, however, is not about a standard to achieve, or a perfection to be lived.  It's about a love relationship with the one who created you to be.  The difference in you will become apparent through this process.  The line between being in the world, but not of it becomes much less grey.  Being different becomes less about what you don't do and more about what you do.  It becomes about the peace you have inside you and not the longing for things you can't have anymore.

Christ calls us to be different.  He wants that because He offers something so much better.  It only becomes a burden because sin always creeps at the door.  If something is keeping you from fully entering into the relationship with Christ God is calling you to, look at why.  Look at why it's holding you back from the one relationship that can offer true peace.  The relationship with Christ, like any relationship, is not easy.  It takes effort, and trust, and time.  But unlike any other relationship/thing in this world, it can offer you a life that's different than any other life you ever experienced.  It can give you a fulfillment and peace found no where else in the world.