abnormally born

Today we live in a society of values. To be "accepted" by the society you have to behave, to look, to dress, to talk in certain way. People expect you to meet their standards of how you should be as a person. But sometimes you aren't the person who could easily fit in to all of those. This is what the apostle Paul said,

"...and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. ...But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." -1 Corinthians 15 : 8-10 (NIV)

"Abnormally born" in other version also translated as "born out of time". At that time in Greece, people put appearance as one of the highest value in society. It is normal for people to lock a child at the back of their house since it was born just because it looks ugly. Paul was born ugly, yet God accepted and used him tremendously.

It might sound superstitious and cliche but sometimes somehow the feeling that you are loved by the Supernatural helps relieving a bit of the fact that you can't keep up with this world's standards. A lifestyle writer in his column on Sunday's newspaper wrote something similar. "When the world disappoint me, it is easiest to run to God. It might sounds hypocrite, but if it makes me feel better, why not? If I were handsome, smart, wealthy, and so special, what could please me are predictable: my handsomeness, my brain, my wealth, and my specialty. And I would forget that they're all come from God."

In the end, "We don't have to live based on other people's opinion." -Pastor Dave Kenney.