I'm sure I'm not the only mama out there has often heard the statement, "But mom! So and so is allowed to do it!" Or, "Everyone else has one..." Or, "Why can't we just be like everyone else???"

And what do we always say in return?

"You are not so and so, and I am not so and so's mom, and our family has their own way of doing things."

And while we might hear this more clearly from our children and have a strong reaction against it, what about all the times we have a similar dialogue within our own hearts and minds?

What about when we find ourselves looking around at what everyone else has or is doing and then feeling insecure because our lives look so different? We begin to think we're missing out and so we look to our Father and we say, "But so and so is doing it, why can't we?"

And sometimes I think He might also be tempted to say, "You are not so and so. And our family has their own way of doing things."

Maybe?
Something like that?

Sometimes I wish more of us truly understood the depth of this truth.

I want to teach my kids that looking different and living differently is something we should be proud of. Even when it doesn't look or appear to be as amazing or as popular or as interesting as those we're surrounded by.

And I believe the best way to teach this is to capture it in my own heart and life as well.

I pray that we all, as Christ followers, could find ourselves in such a place. Where we live differently, where we love differently, where there is no question that there is something different that shines from within us.

We should be different, not because we're trying to be different for the sake of being different. Being different is simply a natural result of imitating our God, who is holy.

Holy means...not like anything else.

Or maybe easier to understand, we are aliens.
And being an alien means, this is not our home.

As my pastor shared,

"God did not shed the precious blood of his Son so we could conform to the world. Christian, we have been born again, therefore...

Think differently.
Act differently.
Be bold.
Not casual.
Be a beacon.

God does not want us isolated from the world, but insulated by the Word."

1 Peter 1:13-21

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.