Would you consider yourself to be peculiar? And I’m not referring to that strange way you eat your eggs.

In Deuteronomy 14:2 it reads, “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (KJV)

Of course, this was a specific word to the Israelites, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. But we see a similar proclamation to Believers in the New Testament.

The Apostle Peter wrote to early Christians in Asia Minor, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

These Christians were experiencing great trials and persecution from their neighbors and the government. The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to explain why they would suffer for Christ’s sake and to encourage and exhort them to live their lives as unto the Lord no matter what. He wanted to remind them that they were called, in Christ, to be different than the rest of the world.

They were set apart in Christ – they were to be peculiar.

Peter exhorts them to “gird up the loins of their mind” and to be holy in all their conduct. (1 Peter 1:13-16)

He urges them to lay aside “all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking …” (1 Peter 2:1) And he begs them to abstain from fleshly lusts that “war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)

I am sure these early believers wanted to and might have, at times, responded to the ridicule and persecution in kind, in other words … in their flesh. The Apostle Peter wanted to remind them that they were not to respond in-kind but to allow the Holy Spirit in them to respond in love to any ridicule or persecution.

If you do that alone, Christian, you will be a “peculiar people” and you will stand out because we are living in a time when everyone, even some Christians, seems to be out to get everyone else and hardly anyone is “responding in love” to ridicule or persecution.

As Christians, we are called to be a peculiar people. We are not supposed to look like the rest of the world. We should not be telling or listening to the same jokes, watching the same movies, listening to the same music, hanging out at the same places as the rest of the world … but too many are and they are doing more harm than good for the Kingdom of God.

As faithful followers of Christ, we should walk humbly before God and man, being quick to forgive our fellow brothers and sisters, as well as non-believers, and remember that we are servants of the most high God, a royal priesthood who has been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light!

When we live that way, we will look and be different than the rest of the world, and we will most certainly experience ridicule, mockery and sometimes persecution; even more so as the days grow darker.

But the darkness will only cause those of us with the light of Christ in us to shine even brighter, causing us to stand out!

If we keep our eyes on Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, compare our momentary “sufferings” to His, and remember why we are here – to love and worship God and point the world to Jesus, my friend, all the ridicule, mockery and persecution we experience will only prove to “perfect, establish, strengthen and settle” us in Christ Jesus. (1 Peter 5:10)

Go out into the world today and be peculiar.. … in the Lord. And if you must eat your eggs that way, that’s OK too.

Lisa Hannan lives in Valdosta with her husband, attorney Miles Hannan, who has been practicing law in Valdosta for more than 30 years. She has a B.S. in psychology from Valdosta State University. You can find her at www.lisahannan.org.