Barrier 3 – Can’t Make a Difference When You’re No Different

What’s Standing In Your Way? – Part 4

Are you trying to be like someone else in order to be different?

While modeling yourself after others may sound like a good idea, it might be the biggest obstacle standing in your way to being different. Being unique. Being the you, you were meant to be.

“In order to make a difference, you must be different.” – Kerry A. Clark
After I wrote that statement, I asked myself, can I really quote myself. Well, why not? Here’s another KAC original, “if you don’t hang out with ordinary people, then expect to be uncommon.” I’m reminded of something Jesus did, while He spent a majority of His days in the synagogue (temple or place of worship), when He began His ministry launch, He didn’t include any of the people He did church with. Why? He wasn’t trying to build the same type church. You see He wanted to make a difference and it required that He be different.

“One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”” – bible.com/116/mat.4.18-19.nlt

Could you following the same old examples as others be a barrier to what you should be doing?

The power to be different somewhere.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit [the spirit that makes one uncommon] comes upon you… [you will do things that extend] to the ends of the earth.”” – bible.com/116/act.1.8.nlt

You may not realize this, but God’s spirit on you brings you the power you need to be different. This power gives you the reach you never had, even to the extent that it will touch the edges of the earth. In other words, if you’d allow your talents, gifts, and skills to be inspired by God then you will become empowered through your gifts, skills, and talents. What are you waiting on? Don’t allow doing it the way others have done it to stand in your way. Ask God for His power to be with you to take your gift, talent, and skills to an “uncommon” level.

What being different could make happen for you?
Extending your reach and sharing your talents to the ends of the earth sounds huge. Allow me to make it smaller before you skip by those who need it most. Let me define your world. Don’t look at your world as this large planet, but rather as those you can physically touch. That’s your world. This might also include those you digitally touch. You see, Pamela and I are apart of the prayer team who pray for people we’ve never meet or never will meet, then it hit us…why not pray for the world? Our world. So we started a list of people with one goal and that’s to list everyone we know so that we can pray for them. Praying for our world has more meaning and engagement than praying for names of people we don’t know. If you’re responsible for your world, what are doing with it? What are you doing to be the difference in your world? How do you tackle it and manage it? What would being different make happen in your world?

Not being different isn’t working.
Think about this. Being like everyone else isn’t working so well. I suggest you (we) try something different. You have to admit that Jesus, His disciples and followers weren’t your ordinary group of people. In fact, they were so different that their very lives were on the line and even taken. However, their stories and their impact are still making a difference today.

What will your impact be? Will you continue to allow being like someone else be a barrier to you impacting your world? The one that you’re responsible to making a difference?