The Transformed "Normal" Life

The life of a follower of Jesus Christ is marked by a freedom from fear and self-centered living. Christ has left us an example of a transformed "Normal" life!

Jim Rohn once said, “If you’re not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” The reason I resonate with that is because my confrontation has forever changed my life by resetting my idea of “normal.” And by daring to believe the “usual” needed challenging.

It’s one of the main reasons I converted to Orthodoxy and one of the most powerful treasures my Orthodox life affords me.

The truth is a “Normal Orthodox” way of living is a direct challenge to our ideas and attitudes about what a “successful” or “happy” life really means. It is why I do these daily devotionals, to regularly challenge what I find “usual” or “comfortable” as I compare these with God’s eternal wisdom about what real life is supposed to be!

Look at our lesson today in 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:1-9:

Beloved, Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste behavior. Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you.

Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker sex, since you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered.

Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love of the brethren, a tender heart and a humble mind. Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing.

St. Peter wrote his first general epistle to the Christians in the northern section of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. This is where Asia and Europe touch. As the Christian faith grew among both Jews and Gentiles in the First Century, persecution broke out, pushing the Christians to abandon Christ and go back to what was “usual.”

Peter, as a bishop and Apostle, writes to encourage these believers not to give in to persecution but to stay strong in Christ, knowing that their leaving the “usual” for life in Christ is the true “Normal” way of life for we humans created in God’s image.

He does this by reminding these believers that Jesus is our supreme example of what “Normal” really is! Christ faced unfair treatment, persecution, and even profound suffering with “no guile .” That means the life of Jesus gives us the example we should embrace when we are treated unfairly or are ridiculed for daring to challenge the “usual” for the extraordinary life of an Orthodox Christian.

Then Peter applied this idea of resetting our “Normal” to the very real relationships we have in our lives, and he started with the bedrock of the Christian Church: the Family.

By the way, if you want to see the enemy’s plans, look at social movements, ideologies, and political positions that degrade the Family. Destroy the Family - Husband, wife, children - and you can enslave an entire culture in the narcissistic madness of self-centered hell.

St. Peter ties the Lord’s willingness to face suffering and death for our sakes as the pattern for a truly Christian marriage and it has everything to do with husbands and wives loving their spouse more than they love themselves! The resetting of “Normal” and the abandoning of the “usual” “You’re supposed to make me happy” model of relationships resets all of our lives to be able to embrace wisdom and become like Christ.

But it starts in our application of this wisdom to our everyday lives!

St. Philothea shows us in the example of her life what it means to embody this idea of “Normal.” She was born in Athens during the time of the Turkish yoke on the believers. She married a man who was abusive and cruel to her. When he died three years after they were married, St. Philothea embraced the monastic life and formed a women’s monastery in the area, which became a refuge for women enx=slaved and abused by the Muslim Turks. She became a true mother to these women, and her reputation grew as a holy and pious disciple of Jesus. The Turks eventually could stand no more of this woman’s challenge of the “usual,” so they arrested her and beat her so severely over several days that she died a martyr for Christ in the year 1589 AD.

Today, is the Orthodox Faith challenging your idea of the “usual” and the “status quo?” Are you willing to let the Faith reset your idea of a “Normal” life? The Orthodox Way is meant to transform you into someone who can face the broken world with the courage and humility of Jesus Christ. It’s time to embrace a “Normal” Orthodox way of living!

P.S. We all honor Philothea with jubilation of spirit, as this day we reverently worship her venerable relics. For she lived her whole life working kindness and mercy; and the righteous one, receiving a martyr's ending, is deemed worthy to entreat God that all be granted eternal life with the Saints.