Don’t Try to Be Like Everybody Else

Daily Devotional

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…

You cannot be like everybody else and at the same time be what God wants you to be. The choice is clear, be what God wants you to be.

Do not try to be like everybody else in an effort to avoid not being the odd one out. If you take your cue from the greats in the Bible they were never afraid to be different. On the instruction of the Lord, Jeremiah walked naked for 3 years, he was the odd one out. David praised God 7 times a day; that most certainly was abnormal. Joshua the scripture said never left the tabernacle of meeting: living constantly in God’s presence; that was not the norm. While it was okay for everybody else in Egypt to engage in all kinds of sinful acts, Joseph kept himself pure. For everybody else it was okay for their children to intermarry among those living in the land of Canaan, Abraham got Isaac a wife from among his brethren. Choose to be different not just for the sake of being different, but for the purpose of being what God wants you to be. That was the common denominator among the Bible characters that were highlighted.

Choosing to be different is a biblical instruction. It says in Romans 12:2, be not conformed to this world but ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. The directive as to how to not be like everybody else is found in the latter  part of the scripture where it says “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What it is saying is choose to be different by reprogramming your mind with the word of God. The only reason it felt comfortable for the Bible characters to operate differently was because they had a different belief system and that belief was informed by the word of God and not the prevailing culture of the day.

Use the word of God to inform your belief system and get comfortable with the idea of not being like everything else.

Life Application: Memorize scriptures and meditate upon the word of God daily to become less like everybody else and more like what God wants you to be.  

Prayer: Lord, I choose to be different even when everyone else is going against your word. Give me the strength to stand even when it is hard to do so. I commit everything my ways to you now in Jesus name, amen.