Your Weird Is Your Edge

From our earliest years, we’re conditioned to color inside the lines. Blend in. Keep quiet. Be agreeable. “Don’t be weird” becomes a silent rule we all learn to live by. But what if weirdness isn’t the enemy of success or faith but the very path to both?

CJ Casciotta, a writer and speaker based in Nashville, is challenging this cultural script. In his thought-provoking book Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference, he suggests something radical: your weirdness may be sacred. That is, your quirks, your originality, your out-of-the-box perspective they’re not liabilities. They’re signposts pointing to a divine design.

Weirdness Is a Form of Holiness

Casciotta’s premise isn’t just clever branding it’s rooted in theology. The Hebrew word “Kodesh,” often translated as holy, literally means “set apart.” Its antonym? Common. In other words, to be holy is to be different even weird in the most sacred sense of the word.

This perspective turns our assumptions upside down. We’ve long associated holiness with solemnity, sameness, or separation from the world. But holiness, Casciotta says, may look a lot more like creativity, courage, and even awkwardness.

“The very word we use to mock difference,” Casciotta says, “is soaked in sacredness.” And he’s not wrong. Historically, “weird” meant “suggesting the supernatural.” So when someone calls you weird maybe they’re accidentally calling you holy.

Faith in a Strange Gospel

Casciotta’s argument lands squarely in the Gospel itself. “The Gospel is weird,” he says. “It tells us strength comes through weakness, that life comes through death.” This isn’t just theological poetry. It’s the heart of a faith built on paradox a God who became man, a King who died for His enemies, a Savior who rose from the grave.

If the Gospel is this strange, then why are Christians so often trying to blend in?

According to Barna Group’s 2023 research, over 70% of Christians aged 18–35 say they feel pressure to present a curated version of themselves even in spiritual spaces. That’s a troubling statistic. The Church, of all places, should be where authenticity is embraced, not erased.

The Cost of Conformity

Casciotta argues that when we suppress what makes us different, we deprive the community of something essential. Sameness isn’t safety it’s spiritual poverty.

Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, is one of Casciotta’s creative heroes. Henson’s puppets weren’t just colorful characters they were an act of creative resistance. No U.S. network wanted them. He had to take his vision to London. And from that perceived oddity came one of the most beloved children’s programs in history.

“He saw potential where others saw failure,” Casciotta explains. That’s what the truly weird do they don’t just think differently; they see differently.

And that, too, mirrors our Creator. God sees value in the outcast, purpose in the broken, beauty in the unusual. Over and over in Scripture, He chooses the least likely candidates shepherds, stutterers, sinners to do the greatest things.

Embrace the Theology of Insecurity

Being weird truly living out your God-given uniqueness requires insecurity. It means standing out. Risking failure. Choosing authenticity over approval.

Casciotta highlights Sister Simone Campbell and her “theology of insecurity,” a radical embrace of uncertainty as fertile ground for faith. It’s in those shaky moments where plans aren’t guaranteed and results aren’t clear that real creativity, leadership, and spiritual maturity are born.

Jesus Himself modeled this kind of insecurity. He didn’t offer social credibility. He offered a cross. His path was not popular, but it was powerful. And He invited others to follow not into normalcy, but into transformation.

Weirdness as Worship

So what does this mean for us today?

It means that your quirks your creative instincts, your unconventional thoughts, your unique wiring may be your ministry. God isn’t looking for copies. He’s building a kingdom of originals.

Romans 12:2 urges us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” That’s a weird way to live in a world obsessed with fitting in. But it’s also the path to real transformation and real impact.

When you courageously live out your God-given weirdness, you reflect the creative heart of God. You bring flavor to a bland culture. You make space for others to be real, too. And maybe just maybe you help usher in the kind of Kingdom revolution the world desperately needs.

Faithfulness Over Familiarity

Normal never changed the world. Jesus didn’t die to make us normal. He came to make us new.

So the next time you feel “too different,” remember it might be the very thing God plans to use. Your weirdness isn’t a barrier to success or faith it might be the key.

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