Out of Place

Last Friday I did something I never expected to do. I brought our farm's cattle trailer and parked it in the side yard at my house. I had agreed to help a friend move some livestock early on Monday morning and wouldn't have the time on Monday morning to get it from the farm. So I dropped the trailer beside my garage in the yard until Monday morning. The only thing is that trailer looked really out of place in the new development we live in. Yes, others have utility trailers, campers, or boats in their yards. But as I've jogged in our neighborhood I've never once seen another livestock trailer. I was a bit amused by the fact that our family had to be the only ones in the neighborhood to have a livestock trailer and how much that trailer seemed to be out of place.

When it comes to the Christian, they are to be as out of place in this world as that livestock trailer was in my neighborhood. For the believer in Christ, we are to be a peculiar people who stand out from our surroundings. We are to be "in the world, but not of the world." Our thoughts and actions are to be completely different from the world around us. The reason being the Christian's priorities and beliefs are completely different from those of the world. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world." This means we are not to be molded and shaped into something that resembles the attitudes, beliefs, and motives of this world. Instead we are to resemble Christ and His holiness. No we won't ever be perfect like Christ, but we can strive for the type of holiness He exhibited here on earth. This holiness, when practiced in today's secular society, will stick out like a sore thumb. Others will take notice and, in a good way, you'll find yourself out of place.

Start today to conform your life to the standards of heaven rather than the standards of this world. When you do, you won't mind being out of place.


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