My girls have been back into school now for several weeks. It always amazes me how they want to both "fit in" and yet "stand out." They want to be noticed as unique, cool, or special in some way but still not stand out too much. If you "stand out" in the wrong way at school you get picked on or made fun of and they all avoid that like the plague.
I'm always weighing the struggle they have between being "social" and what my girls would call "popular" and standing out for Christ. We often talk about how we are to be DIFFERENT, maybe not so much about standing out by looking weird, but being distinct and different in a good 'alien' way! Maybe more something like unique, cool, and special. We are told in 1 Peter 2...
"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world..." I Peter 2:11a (NIV)
I don't think it will be long before those who are living for Christ will look a bit more like the "aliens" in this world.
"Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." I Peter 2:11-12 (The Message)
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." I John 2:15-17 (NIV)
Any thoughts on this? Any help from a mother who's been there and had that conversation?
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