07/25/2026
The closer someone genuinely gets to God, the more unusual they start to look to the world around them. Not because holiness is strange, but because our culture has normalized the very things Scripture warns us about.
We live in a world that celebrates self-indulgence as freedom, calls compromise authenticity, treats pride as confidence, and mistakes constant distraction for peace. What God calls destructive, culture calls empowering. What Scripture calls bo***ge, the world markets as liberation. And when someone begins to step away from those things, people assume they’re becoming extreme.
But perhaps they’re simply becoming awake.
The closer you get to God, the more clearly you begin to see what once seemed harmless. Certain conversations start to grieve you. Certain environments no longer feel comfortable. Certain habits you once defended begin to feel heavy. You become more careful with what you watch, what you entertain, what you excuse, and what you allow to shape your heart. Not because you believe you’re better than anyone else, but because conviction changes your appetite.
You stop asking, “What’s wrong with this?” and begin to ask, “Is this drawing me closer to Christ?” You stop measuring your life by what everyone else accepts and begin measuring it by what honors God. You become less concerned with appearing relevant and more concerned with remaining faithful.
That kind of life will look strange in a culture built on appetite, approval, and self-expression. It looks strange to forgive when bitterness feels justified. It looks weak to remain gentle when retaliation would be celebrated. It looks foolish to practice purity in a world that mocks restraint. It looks restrictive to set boundaries, irrational to trust God, and extreme to obey Scripture when obedience costs you something.
As you grow closer to God, some people may say you’ve changed. They’ll be right.
Grace was never meant to leave you untouched. The Holy Spirit doesn’t enter your life merely to make you feel better about who you’ve always been. He transforms your desires, exposes your idols, confronts your compromises, and makes you more like Christ.
That transformation may cost you approval. It may create distance between you and people who only felt comfortable with the old version of you. It may require you to walk away from environments, habits, ambitions, and relationships that pull your heart away from God. But losing the world’s approval isn’t a tragedy when you’re gaining intimacy with God.
You weren’t called to blend into a culture that’s drifting further from truth. You were called to be salt and light. Not self-righteous. Not harsh. Not isolated. But unmistakably different. The goal is to know God so deeply, love Him so fully, and obey Him so faithfully that your life can no longer be explained by the values of the world around you.
And when people wonder why you no longer live like everyone else, may the answer be simple: You’ve been with Jesus.
