Mediocrity

Passion brings mediocrity to light. In mediocrity everything around you (people, circumstances, and your environment) effects you. Mediocrity is one big blame game. Never taking responsibility for it's self, it has thoughts like: "No one understands me," "People always reject me." Another common mediocre thought is: "If my living situation was different I'd really be fulfilling my calling." Mediocrity means: Average or ordinary. Average or ordinary living normally comes about by average or ordinary thinking. Strongholds are in the mind.

That's why in Romans 12:2 it says,"Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWAL of your mind. . . "

Being transformed by the renewal of your mind is more then just reading some scriptures and listening to the right kind of music. Scripture memorization is not what Paul is talking about here. He's talking about a total mind change, a total change in thought patterns. When you have a certain way of thinking they say you actually carve pathways in your brain. Breaking out of those pathways is supernatural. Paul is saying, "Jesus wants to give you brain surgery." The renewal in the mind Paul is talking about here isn't some cerebral concept or mental assent. This is a raw and real renewal from His presence. As he "changes our minds" we literally are transformed from the inside out. Bill Johnson says: "It's not just that our thoughts are different, but that our way of thinking is transformed because we think from a different reality - from heaven toward earth!" and "Renewal comes as revelation leads you into a new experience with God"

While mediocrity is average and ordinary, in the Kingdom God calls us to be extraordinary (EXTRA ORDINARY). With mediocrity everything around you effects you; on the other hand, in the kingdom everything around you bows and is influenced by what's in you. Like Apostolic catalysts, the culture and atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven (which is within you) invades the culture and atmosphere of the kingdoms of the earth.

In Matthew 13: 33 Jesus said "The Kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a women took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." Leaven is a catalyst. Anything it touches gets influenced by it. Nothing in this world or my environment can shake what's in me. That's good news. That's why Jesus could hang around prostitutes, drunkards and the rest and not be shaken or altered. Instead everything and everyone was shaken and altered by Him. Because what was in His core spilled out of Him. Jesus could only speak peace to the storm because He had peace within Him. Awesome! My environment won't affect my calling, it won't alter passion. Instead my calling and passion effects my environment. Being around the mediocrities doesn't change us from being extraordinary!

- Micah Level