CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SEPERATION: THE ATTITUDE OF CHAMPIONS
“Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 6:17)
The most important discovery you will ever make is the discovery of what makes you different from others. You cannot make a difference until you are different. Some people call it self-discovery. And it is this discovery that births an attitude in you; the attitude of separating yourself from the crowd. We have said that by God’s divine plan and arrangement, every individual has a unique place in destiny; differing from that of others and peculiar to him or her (Romans 12:6). Therefore, it is dangerous to be lost in the crowd all the time because, you just might lose your identity and hence, your destiny.
Having this mentality, it is therefore important to understand the principle of separation. Jesus displayed this one day in the aftermath of one of the yearly Passover feasts in Jerusalem. After the feast, a large crowd including His parent was returning home, and the Bible says Jesus tarried in Jerusalem. In other words, He withdrew himself from the crowd.
Why? He knew exactly what He came to earth for and he knew that he was on a different assignment from the others and that He needed to separate himself in order to fulfill His destiny. Getting lost in the crowd will rub you of your identity and make you lose focus of your assignment, hence, living an unfulfilled life. You must understand your difference from others and walk in the uniqueness of your purpose (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
The world today is full of problems of all sorts. However, the solution to all those problems lies with God appointed people! The Good news is; there is a problem you were created to solve. Your purpose is the solution to a problem. But you cannot solve any problem you help to enhance. You have to withdraw yourself from those nurturing the problems and start creating invaluable ways of bringing lasting solutions to those problems.
Our world is full of chaos today because the people whom God have ordained to be problem solvers have made themselves problem incubators and enhancers. You cannot solve a problem you are part of. That’s why you must retain your identity. You’re not created for the crowd; therefore, work on yourself, your giftings and potentials in order to enhance your delivery to the world.
A Different Approach
Every problem in mathematics has a different method for solving it. The approach to solving the problem depends on the nature of the problem. You don’t use one approach to solve all mathematical problems. Why do we have different approaches? It’s simple; because we have different problems. The problems are not the same; therefore the approaches to solving them cannot be the same.
That’s how it is with life. Everyone is created to solve a different problem; therefore everyone must have a different approach to his or her purpose. You cannot use someone else’s approach for your life’s assignment. You both are not heading the same direction; therefore, your methods don’t have to be the same. You need to separate yourself in terms of your methods and approach to life.
Someone said; “you were not born with the crowd, so why die in the crowd?” You are not destined to finish your race in the crowd. Therefore you mustn’t adopt the methods of the crowd. There is no general approach to fulfilling destiny. You need your own approach.
You don’t have to try to be like someone else and it would be wrong for anyone to try to be you. We are all different people with differing destinations and hence, different routes to getting to our various destinations.
King David understood this secret. See what the Bible writes about him;
“And Samuel said to Jesse, are these all thy children? And he said, there remaineth yet the younger, and behold he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send for him: for we will not sit down till he come hither”. (1 Samuel 16:11)
In this account, Samuel the priest was sent by God to anoint a prospective King from the household of Jesse that heaven had already chosen. Now, David as at that time who was the younger of the men in the house of Jesse already knew where he was going. So he often withdrew himself from the crowd. The other big brothers were showing off their chests. David was however keeping his father’s sheep; in effect, learning how to lead God’s sheep (i.e. God’s people). He was purpose conscious, that’s why he was careful not to be lost in the crowd. In the end, he was sent for and anointed.
We all need to approach life like David did; separating yourself from others in your mind, actions, decisions, thoughts, behavior, etc. You cannot make a difference if you are not different. You cannot be outstanding if you don’t “stand out”.
A Different Mindset
A different approach is not possible without a different mindset. If you want to do things differently from the crowd, you need to think differently from them. Not only did David separate himself physically, he also separated himself mentally. He wasn’t thinking like others were thinking. He wasn’t afraid of the same things that scared them off. He wasn’t moved by what moved them.
When everybody in Israel was afraid of Goliath, he stood tall and said “since I could kill a lion and a bear in the bush, I can bring down Goliath” (1 Samuel 17: 34-36). That was a totally different mentality. It wasn’t David’s physique that killed Goliath, it was his mindset. He was probably the smallest physically, but was obviously strongest mentally. He first won the battle in his mind before he won in physically.
When late president Umoru Musa Yar’Adua stepped into power in 2007, he announced that he came with a seven point’s agenda that was supposed to transform Nigeria. And make no mistake, these agenda were good and in fact, if properly implemented, they would have helped the development of Nigeria a great deal.
However, something crucial was missing in that agenda. There was no program in place to transform the mindsets of the citizens that will ultimately culminate into generational transformation.
The average Nigerian already has a negative mindset. He believes that due to the fact that the government is corrupt and that money is hard to come by, prosperity is also not possible unless one has to get involved in bad practices. He believes that nothing can work well in any sector of the country’s economy anymore. And he has also conditioned his mind to believe that if he will ever be prosperous, then luck will really need to be on his side. This is bad for personal development.
What am I saying? If there must be a positive transformation in our lives, societies, states, nations, regions and even the world at large, then there must first be a reasonable transformation going on in our minds and in the minds of all people across the nations of the world.
A Different Spirit
God said about Caleb;
“But my servant Caleb, because he had ANOTHER SPIRIT with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land…” (Numbers 14:24)
Not only do you need a different mindset, you also need a different spirit in order to climb to the heights. People with weak spirits are not able to dare things that seem impossible. Caleb in Numbers, we are told, was able to motivate the Israelites to go conquer the supposed “Giants” that were meant to consume them. And God dubbed him a man with a different spirit from the others.
It’s important to be intelligent in your journey through life, but it’s much more important to be spirited. Spirited people don’t fear challenges, they move toward challenges. Spirited people don’t run away from their fears, they move toward their fears. They are able to dare. David was so spirited and that’s why he was able to look Goliath in the eye without shivering.
I told us about Mary Slessor in a previous chapter. Among other things, she was so spirited. On one of her mission assignments in Nigeria, she was threatened with death, but she said “what’s worse than death, Onward, I dare not look back”. She was not afraid of dying. She moved toward her purpose fearlessly. Spirited people are fearless people.
Don’t Fear Criticisms
When you are doing things differently from other people, there is an assurance that you’ll get criticized by them. Criticism is not always bad; in most cases, it’s an indication that you are doing something different.
Most people get angry when someone around them proves to be different in approach, in character, in personality, in wisdom and in disposition. When they sense the presence of this kind of person, they get uncomfortable; because they feel his presence exposes their own inadequacy. So they react in unpleasant ways toward that person.
It is therefore important to note that when you get criticized because of what you do and how you do it, it’s not always that you are wrong; in most cases, it’s because you are better. So embrace your difference, keep your head up and move ahead.
In Luke 2:49, Jesus asked His parent; “why are you looking for me”. In other words, He wasn’t afraid of being alone. He was neither afraid nor ashamed to be the only one doing something different. If you understand that your purpose is different from that of others, then you’ll not be ashamed to approach things differently from others.
People who abuse you for being different are simply not purpose-conscious people. But you are! Therefore, be proud of your difference and do your thing confidently not minding who likes it or who doesn’t like it. Stop doing things you are not comfortable doing, trying to impress people. You don’t have to impress anybody, impress yourself first.