Love Jesus Like a Nerd

Where Passion and Knowledge Meet Conviction

In a previous post, I talked about what the term “nerd” means in this day and age, defining it thusly:

Nerd - (noun) a person who is passionate and knowledgeable in a certain area

The connotation of the word does often go a step further than simple “passion.” There is a fervor, a ferocity, a full-on frothing fount of freaking out for the subject. Consider the fans of boy bands, football teams, and Ryan Reynolds.

The real fans, the nerds, know absolutely everything there is to know about their subject. They are in attendance for every event, financially supporting every cause, and absolutely refusing to shut up about how cool their area of interest is.

Now, I could launch into a whole thing here on idolatry and how we as human beings live in a constant state of worship and it’s just a matter of what we make the subject of our worship. But that’s for another blog. No, I’m here to say that the fans of the things of this world have us Christians beat.

I claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and by His grace I have been welcomed into that family of believers, but do I show that kind of sold-out, crazy intensity of nerdiness for Jesus that other people show for their fandoms? Or even that I show for my fandoms?

What has D&D or Final Fantasy got that Jesus doesn’t? Cool powers and heroic conflict? Jesus was conceived in an impossibility and went on to walk on water, stop storms with a word, heal the sick, raise the dead, teach wisdom, expose corruption, die a hero’s sacrificial death, and then GET BACK UP. And He was real. And He’s coming back.

How can I be apathetic about that? How can I, as someone who believes it to be true, be anything less than constantly geeking out about how cool God is and how awesome His creation is and how I’m gonna get to meet Him and spend eternity with Him?

The answer is that I was spiritually dead and ignorant of the reality of God, and though my salvation happened in an instant (a story I need to share sometime), my sanctification is gradual. I’m constantly learning more about God, being corrected and remolded into His image, and fighting against my flesh and an enemy that wants to hurt God by hurting me. And until I see His glory in person, I don’t think I’m capable of showing anything close to the level of enthusiasm He deserves.

But I’m gonna try. I’m going to nerd out like crazy on the Bible, on God’s character, on the blessings He brings me, on the trials He strengthens me through, on the troubles He rescues me from, and on the bondages He breaks me out of.

That’s what this is all about. I have a passion for the written word. I don’t know how well I write, but I know that I love to write. And that’s what a nerd does. We take our areas of talent or interest or inclination and bend them toward the subjects we’re nerdy about. And that, my friends, is called art.

And do you know who the greatest artist of all time is? God. Because He made you.

(Sappy ending? Yes. True though? Also yes.)

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