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Scripture for the day: Titus 2:13-14 [we live] looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works
Thought for the day: They're odd, aren't they; those Christians I mean. Look at them for a moment. They don't act like the rest of the world (or shouldn’t), they often don’t dress like the rest of the world and they certainly don't talk like the rest of the world - well, many of them don't anyway. What is it with them? You'd think they'd been altered somehow. If you could pick their brain apart you might discover that they don't even think like the rest of the world.
We have a standing joke around our church whenever we do something that's contrary to what everyone else, even in church circles, is doing. We say we take very seriously the call to be "peculiar" people. But, as with any good joke, there's a grain of truth therein. We are called to be different and if we're not fulfilling that call, I have to wonder if we really are different. Someone once said, "If it looks like a rose and smells like a rose, chances are it's a rose." Could not the same be true of those who call themselves by the name of Christ? If we look like the world and act like the world and think like the world, there's a good chance we are of the world. But if we act like Jesus and think like Jesus and "look" like Jesus (though I'm in no way advocating long flowing robes to replace today's clothing styles) isn't it reasonable to assume we are of Jesus?
1 Peter 2:9-11 says, "But you are a chosen (peculiar) people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."
This means not only that we are "in the world but not of the world" but that we exclusively belong to God and God alone; we are Christ's property in the sense that we’ve surrendered all to Him; He has ultimate control over everything we say and do. In all our business transactions we are different from the world; we conduct our business His way. In our fashions, hobbies, family relationships, in relation to our church, in every way of life, we are fundamentally different from the world. If we've been able to separate our Christian faith from any aspect of our life as if it had no bearing then we are not completely God's.
Can you imagine buying a 10 room house and allowing the previous owner to reserve one of the back rooms for himself? Who would put their signature on such a contract? The same is true when we give up control of our lives to Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. He will allow for no reservation of even the smallest room in our heart. He must become Lord of the castle or He won't even remain as a guest. But listen, the rewards of surrender are beyond understanding. As Seth Rees, an old-time evangelist, once said: "The sanctified person gives away the last handful of meal; refuses an armor and takes a sling; blows a ram's horn while towers, walls and battlements fall; preaches in handcuffs; sings at midnight; dresses in sheepskin; and goes home in a chariot of fire."
Now go take on your world. - Bill