It’s OK to Be Different
By Steve Williams
Mitchell County
Howdy Folks.
It’s OK to be different. Paul even encourages us to be different in this world that we live in. Too many people today do not think that it is cool to be different. Sad to say, but many people today desire to be like others. God has called us to be different. The Bible says in Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Paul tells us that it is God’s will for us to be different than the world. I do not know who said this but it is great. “Don’t be afraid of being different, be afraid of being the same as everyone else.”
Our society is in dire need of change and for people willing to be different. And the people who are going to bring this change in this world are going to have to be different. Look at the Bible. All the men that Jesus chose to follow Him were very different in the eyes of the world. They were unlearned fishermen, a tax collector, and they were just everyday men, nothing really outstanding about them. See, these men were different and the world saw it and they turned the world upside down.
At one time the church used to be different. There was a time when people looked to the church to be different. Sadly, today people look at the Church as being incompetent, and irrelevant. The reason for this is because the people outside the church fail to see anything different inside the church. The Church has fallen into the world instead of separating itself from the world. Instead of transforming into something different it has allowed itself to be conformed to the world. When people need help today with family problems, moral guidance, and other issues they are turning to self-help groups, support groups, and the government. Folks, why is that 86% of Americans claim to be Christian and claim to believe in God? Why is it that the church has so little effect on our families, our culture, our communities, and the world that we are living in? Well, I think the problem is that we are trying to please everyone and not offend anyone. Churches and Christians will never make a difference or be different with that mindset.
I read this the other day in a Christian magazine. An elderly man was traveling with a boy and a donkey. They travel to four different villages. The 1st Village: The man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind. The townspeople said the old man was a fool for not riding. So to please them he climbed up on the animal’s back. The 2nd Village: The townspeople said the old man was cruel to let the child walk while he enjoyed the ride. So to please them, he got off and set the boy on the animal’s back and continued on his way. The 3rd Village: The townspeople accused the child of being lazy for making the old man walk, a suggestion was made that they both ride. So the man climbed on and they set off again. The 4th Village: The townspeople were outraged at the cruelty to the donkey because he was made to carry two people. The frustrated man was last seen carrying the donkey down the road. Moral: If you try to please everyone you might wind up carrying a donkey and in the eyes of the world you may just look like a donkey too!
Micah Tyler got a song and the title is “I Want To Be Different” it says this:
I wanna be different,
I wanna be changed.
‘Til all of me is gone,
And all that remains.
Is a fire so bright
The whole world can see
That there’s something different
So come and be different
In me!
Words of Wisdom:
- Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. N/A
- Working hard and working smart sometimes can be two different things. Byron Dorgan
- You laugh at me because I’m different, I laugh at you because you’re all the same. Jonathan Davis
Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results. N/A
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Steve Williams is the pastor of Berry Chapel Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. You can read more good Christian news from Steve HERE.
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