A Peculiar People

My Utmost For His Highest

‘Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.’ CHAMBERS

Were you saved just for yourself?  Have you ever thought about that?  Our focus, and rightly so, is on our eternal nature as ‘born again’ sons and daughters of the Creator God.  But that is only the beginning.  God has purposed that we not only be saved from the consequence of our sin but that we would point others to a new life in Christ by the way we live and relate to others.

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:13-16)

Many, if not most, Christians think of witnessing to the world as something evangelists do or only certain Christians who have the gift.  Some people have it and some don’t.  In fact, we are all called to be witnesses. It is God’s purpose that we be a reflection of Jesus in a world that is moving further and further into darkness.

Does your life reflect that?  Or are you indistinguishable from those around you?  If you told the people you work with that you are a Christian would they be surprised?  Being a witness is not about wearing a cross around your neck, carrying your ‘big Bible’ wherever you go, playing Christian music … you don’t have to have the Spirit of God in you to do those things … but showing the love of God toward others …  showing grace and mercy to others … that is ‘other worldly’  It is super-natural… uncommon … out of step with the world’s way of doing things … and exactly what God wants us to do

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Let your light shine

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)