Did you know that the Bible says that Christians are a peculiar people? (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9 KJV)
You might be glad to know that the word that’s translated “peculiar” in the King James Version means “set apart” in our language today. It doesn’t mean what we usually think of as someone who is peculiar. In our culture, that pretty much means weird.
As Christians, as set-apart ones, however, we should look and be different from people who are not believers. I don’t think that means being different just for the sake of being different, but being different from our culture in areas that are not pleasing to the Lord.
And there’s plenty of that in our society to avoid these days.
We should look to the guidebook that our Lord has provided for us to see how He wants us to be different. There are so many areas these days that the Bible doesn’t address directly, but it does give us guidelines and principles. As Tim likes to say, “We believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word of God, the final authority for all truth and practice.”
Am I saying that we need to be concerned about how we look to others? Well, yes, man does look on the outward appearance. (I Samuel 16:7)
But that’s not all. We are to look different from the world by the way we act, talk, and even think. (The rest of that verse in I Samuel says that God does not see as man sees; He looks on the heart.)
Now, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be those who think we’re weird, no matter what, and that’s okay. Maybe they can’t tell the difference between weird and peculiar. 😉
A man once contacted my husband Tim to apologize for his previous behavior toward him. This man disagreed with stands that Tim took in the political arena based on his biblical worldview, and because of that, this man had a very bad attitude (and apparently bad actions) toward him. He called to apologize and to tell Tim that he had become a believer in Christ. It wasn’t until he knew Jesus that he understood and appreciated Tim, his actions, and his beliefs. We should expect that.
Do you dare to be different?
More on this topic to come . . .
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