Think Different!

𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple Computer back in the late 1990s, Apple launched an ad campaign using pictures of iconic achievers who went against the grain, like Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Over their heads were posted the words, "Think Different!" It was an effective and inspired campaign. Like Steve Jobs, God wants us to think different. 

The words, holy, saint, and sanctification, are all forms of the same Greek word, hágios, which is normally defined as being “set apart.” Recently, however, I heard someone define holiness as being "different, or of a different nature. It is that quality which sets something or someone apart:

hágios – properly, different (unlike), other ("otherness"), holy; for the believer, 40 (hágios) means "likeness of nature with the Lord" because "different from the world.” (HELPS Word-Studies)

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁?

God’s ways are more than just a better version of what we can conceive, or merely an amalgamation of the best of human qualities. He is different! That’s why Scripture uses words like wonderful, majestic, glorious, awesome, etc., to attempt to describe him. He is full of wonder, majesty, glory, awe, etc. That’s very different!

The thing about different is that it’s…well, different. You can’t conceive of different until you experience different. With God, he is not only different, he is multi-faceted. That means there are many different aspects to God that we can come to know. We know all that is different about him through faith.

𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁

Faith has to do with believing that God’s invisible qualities and blessings become visible to those who believe. This is different from the way we naturally think, and it distinguishes faith from wishful or positive thinking. Faith comes from hope, and hope is built through our experience in our knowledge of God and his faithfulness, based upon Scripture. If our natures are no different than that of those around us, it’s likely we haven’t been seeking and experiencing just how different God is.

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁

Jesus was different. Those who met him noticed he was different.

”No one ever spoke the way this man does…” (John 7:46 NIV)

“…the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matthew 7:28-29 NIV)

“Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:32-33 NIV)

Do people ever say these things about us? Are we that different? Different is scary. Different is uncomfortable. By human nature, we don’t seek out or readily accept what is different. But, we’re encouraged in Scripture to seek his kingdom - a kingdom so different, it is not of this world.

𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁

When we talk about seeking what is different about God, we’re not talking about some vague, supernatural, or esoteric world. To seek God is to seek him through the Scriptures and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Although we’ve been born into a different kingdom, there are parts of us which haven’t been transformed and been made different. These “unspiritual” parts will not accept, nor will they seek out God’s nature on their own; in fact, they’ll avoid what is different altogether:

“A person who isn't spiritual doesn't accept the things of God's Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can't understand them because they are spiritually evaluated.” (1 Co 2:14 ISV)

It takes risk and trust to move forward in the kingdom of God. Like Abraham, we have to trust that God is leading us somewhere. We can’t stay in the same place, we must get on board.

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻

We need different now more than we’ve ever needed it before. If insanity is doing the same thing over an over, but expecting a different result, by doing so, we’re seeking the rewards of being different without becoming different. It’s like burying our talents in the ground and expecting a return. It’s like carrying a lamp, but leaving the oil behind. Different is a moving train. Taking the same old train, or camping out at the train station will not move us forward. We don’t want to miss that train’s visitation.

As previously stated, we don’t know different until we’ve experienced it. Therefore, we don’t know what to ask for in prayer so that we can move towards different. To keep it simple, we might merely ask the Lord to show us something different and to give us a path forward to reach it. As Watchman Nee said -

“Our prayers lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.” ~ Watchman Nee