UncommonSample

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:2

“This is it,” we declare, “this is the Christianity I will settle for.” Sure we go to church,

but our lives look the same as the atheists.” Our parenting is identical to those who don’t follow.

Jesus. We have our “salvation stamp,” but the world’s solutions solve the problems of our lives, not God’s solutions for life. Maybe we were baptized at 14 years old and never missed a Sunday, but we still watch the same TV shows as our non-Christian friends. We are still drinking more than we should simply because it’s “what you do,” says the world.

If you put some of us Christians side by side with “the people of the world,” you

wouldn’t be able to tell any difference between the two groups. There would be no uncommon

Christ-likeness about us. No one would wonder what was different about us in our character and

lifestyle. Why? Because we settle for less in our Christian walks. We settle because we don’t want to be weird Christians. We settle because of complacency. We settle because of ignorance. We settle because of disappointment in God. We settle for the common religious experience but then become angry with God because nothing beyond the ordinary ever happens to us. We expect Him to change the state of the earth, but we don’t want Him to give any input into our individual lives. Or, at least, not too much input.

Rather than seeking to be uncommonly Christ-like, we go back to our old source...the world. The world says to be “the best version of yourself.” So we tidy up that ideology and slap a Jesus

sticker on it, declaring the idea Biblical. But God called us to live uncommonly, remarkably, set apart, and much more than what we settle for.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What are some ways you have settled for less in your walk with Jesus?
2. How could you partner with the Lord about this?
3. How could you partner with the people in your Uncommon small group about this?