Different

"Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.  Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.  For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life

    and see many happy days,

keep your tongue from speaking evil

    and your lips from telling lies.

Turn away from evil and do good.

    Search for peace, and work to maintain it. 

The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,

    and his ears are open to their prayers.

But the Lord turns his face

    against those who do evil.”"  

1 Peter 3

What does a Christian look like?  

How do you know when you have encountered one?

What should mark us from those around us?

The things that should be different are the ways we react to and respond to others no matter how they treat us.  

We should be different!  

The difference isn't physical, we don't dress differently, look strange to the world, stand out in the crowd, but once we encounter another human being at a personal level we should be different.  

The difference comes in how we respond to them....it's based on the love of Christ given to us and lived through us. 

It shows up as we show a stranger kindness, share what we have with a needy person, help the broken.

We should be different in this way.....we show the world the love of God in how we treat them.  We show them they are priceless to God and to us.  We demonstrate their worth by giving them our time, our attention.  

We are not creatures of evolution, we are creations of a loving God and because of that we each have great worth...great value to the one who made us.

When we are different from the world, when we really care for one another, we show them the love of God....

....and they see it!  

They are drawn to it....

...they want this love because they can get it nowhere else.

We are different because we have experienced the love of God and when we love those around us as God has loved us they are drawn to it.....they want it.  

What Peter describes in the passage I quoted is how we interact with each other and as we do that the world sees it...they want it.

Does the world see you as different?  Do you stand out because of God's love?  Are you sharing with those around you what you have received?  

Jesus described us in this strange way when he said,

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

Let your light shine....it's dark out there.