You have heard, I am sure, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but have you heard the nail that sticks out gets the hammer? Sometimes sticking out or being different can be a source of pain and suffering to the one who will not conform.

In the. Military, they do everything to eliminate non conformity. They make everyone dress the same, have the same haircut, march at the same pace in lock step. During book camp if you break rank, or forget the smallest detail of you uniform and you will be punished.

God wants us to alained to his ideal. 

Romans 12:1-2 KJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God wants us to be unified with him, but that means we must not be conformed to or in lock step with this world. If we are striving to walk closer to christ, we – by necessity – must be contrasting the world. This means that we are going to get the hammer.

2 Timothy 3:12 KJV

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

The life of John the Baptist is a perfect example of this. If anyone lived a contrasting life it was John. He wore different close, he ate different food, and he preached a different message. John’s life can be summarized by this one verse:

John 3:30 KJV

He must increase, but I must decrease.

John did decrease after Jesus was made known. He later was beheaded because he did not conform to the world, but rather reprove it. He did not do this out of a mean spirit but out of a spirit of love. It was love that drove John into the wilderness and Love that caused him to stand for righteousness. Love of God and his fellow man. It isthis same Love that brought Christ to earth to save us.

John 3:16 KJV

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.m

This same love that Christ had is supposed to drive us to be contrasting theworld. It is love that proves that we are God’s.

S. T. 
Acts 20:24
"But, none ofthese things move me..."