GeekBelievers?

The Geek Story

Doing a quick web search for the definition of the word geek, you find many definitions with a majority of them having negative connotations. I remember growing up that being labeled a geek or nerd was something that was to be dreaded. While Matthew 5:5 says “The meek will inherit the earth,” we know that in our day and age the Geek has begun to inherit the world. More and more people are self-identifying as a geek, and thus Geeks come in all shapes and sizes.

A Geek is, as one definition says, “A person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest.” I feel that Geeks tend to have a deep devotion to their subject, which doesn’t have to be limited to a single idea, and get energy from engaging in that subject. I tend to be a Gaming Geek and Pop Culture Geek. Others like Skipper Rex and AJlynx are Literary Geeks, amongst their other loves.

This devotion can at times become so unbalanced that the person loses touch with life around them, i.e. the gamer who would rather play hours upon hours of World of Warcraft than face the world outside. While this can happen most Geeks lead balanced lives that just tend to skew towards their choice of devotion. A gamer will gamify their life. A reader may find connections to the world around them in their books. A history geek will learn and react from the history of the world. We all know people that are completely engaged in the world around them, but can also spout every stat for their favorite sports team, or tell you the architectural details of the buildings around you.

Geek Believers

As Christians we often try to live a life that is “balanced,” meaning secular and faith driven. We engage in church and faith based things with our Church friends, but then we head home or out and live a life no different than a non-believer. This is often why people outside the church view Christians as hypocrites. The segmented lifestyle lived by many Christians is not the way that Christianity was intended to be lived. Colossians 3:1-11 demonstrates the life we are to live. While I cannot say that I live this kind of life perfectly, I can say that every day I wake up and ask the Lord to help me be better at removing the old-self and putting on the new-self.

A Geek Believer does have balance in their lives in many areas, but their faith tints everything. I use to tell my youth group kids to look at the world not through rose-colored lenses, but through God-colored ones. It doesn’t preclude you from enjoying a secular movie, but it is going to help you find the lessons and truth in that movie. The other thing that it will do is help you find God in the little things of everyday life.

Brother Lawrence wrote some letters that became the Practice of the Presence. He became a man that cooked meals, ran errands, scrubbed pots, and endured the scorn of the world not only in the presence of God, but with God.