“Don’t make it weird.”  I’ve said that more than once when talking about Christian witness. I don’t mean that following Jesus should be invisible, safe, or indistinguishable from everything around us. Paul certainly isn’t asking the Corinthians to hide the work of the Holy Spirit.

But he is asking them to grow up... “Brothers and sisters, don’t be children in your thinking,” Paul writes. “Be babies in evil, but adults in your thinking” (v. 20). That call to maturity shapes everything that follows.

The Corinthians seem to have been fascinated by spiritual gifts that were dramatic and impressive, especially speaking in tongues. Paul doesn’t deny the gift. He has already said that he speaks in tongues himself. But in gathered worship, he keeps returning to a more important question: Does this build anyone else up?

Imagine someone who doesn’t yet believe walking into the gathering. If everyone is speaking words the visitor cannot understand, Paul says the likely response will be, “You are out of your minds!” But if God’s truth is spoken clearly, something very different can happen. The secrets of the person’s heart may be exposed. They may fall down before God and declare, “God is truly among you!” (vv. 23–25).

Notice what convinced them. Nobody impressed them into faith. Nobody manufactured a spiritual experience. Nobody won an argument about whether God exists. They encountered the truth of God in a community where God’s presence was being expressed in a way they could actually receive. That gets very close to what I mean when I say, “Don’t make it weird.”

Sometimes Christians feel as though we have something to prove. We think our worship needs to appear more spiritual, our testimony needs to sound more dramatic, or our arguments need to leave somebody with no possible response. We can even turn spiritual maturity into another opportunity to demonstrate how spiritual we are. Paul pushes in the opposite direction.

Keep it clear. Build one another up. Make room for others. Exercise self-control. Let what happens among God’s people reflect the character of the God we worship. “For God isn’t a God of disorder but of peace” (v. 33).

That doesn’t mean Christian worship should be lifeless or predictable. Paul doesn’t tell the Corinthians to stop prophesying or forbid speaking in tongues. He actually tells them not to prohibit tongues. The Holy Spirit is still free to work. But the Spirit’s work doesn’t require chaos.

Spontaneity isn’t proof of spirituality. Volume isn’t proof of spiritual authority. Drawing attention to ourselves isn’t the same thing as pointing people toward Jesus.

Paul’s concern throughout chapters 12–14 has been the Body of Christ. Different gifts come from the same Spirit. Every member matters. Love must govern everything. And now, those truths shape what happens when the church gathers.

“Everything must be done to build up the church” (v. 26). That may be one of the simplest tests of Christian maturity we could carry with us.

Does what I am doing build others up? Does the way I speak help someone see Jesus more clearly? Does my witness draw attention toward the goodness of God, or toward me?

We don’t need to manufacture evidence that God is real. We trust God because we have experienced God’s trustworthiness. We have received grace. We’ve been forgiven. We’ve seen lives changed. We’ve experienced the Holy Spirit forming us into people who love differently, forgive differently, serve differently, and hope differently. So live from there.

Let the love of God shine through the ordinary faithfulness of a life being transformed by grace. Speak truth clearly. Love people patiently. Make room for others. Trust the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do.

We don’t have to make God impressive. Let God be God.

And perhaps, as people encounter a community increasingly shaped by the love of Christ, they too will discover what Paul hoped an outsider entering that Corinthian gathering might discover: God really is among these people.

Before one conversation or interaction today, ask: “How can I make the love of Christ clearer rather than drawing attention to myself?” Then choose one simple act of encouragement, service, or honest witness that builds someone else up.