I like peanuts, and to make it worse I like them salty. With their high sodium and fat content I know they are bad for me, but I still love peanuts. Overtime I have moved from preferring cocktail peanuts to preferring dry roasted, so I guess that is good. Apparently dry roasted peanuts are healthier.
Anyway, in my opinion nuts, regardless of the type, are better when they are roasted. To get the real flavor and quality out of a nut you have to roast it, be a peanut, a cashew or a pecan. That thought brought on the thought that lead to today's note - I like hanging around with roasted nut Christians.
The Christians that really encourage and motivate me are not the ones that talk about God and His ways, but are the ones that actually put their words into action. In a world like ours today that kind of living is viewed as nutty. Why would you seriously carry out the words, actions and habits of a "man" that lived over two thousand years ago. Why would we look to fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, prostitutes, and former religious leaders as examples for our lives. We are educated, we live in a first world country, and our situation is nothing like theirs. What could we possibly learn from such people, and if we could learn something from them why would we? A real walk with Christ sounds crazy to the world, and only nuts would lead such a life.
As I look over the "nuts" that encourage and motivate me I have come to another conclusion, they have all been roasted at one or more times in their Christian life. Their faiths have been tested and refined by fire at least once for them to reach the place they currently are. Maybe it was co-workers, other believers, church leaders, former friends, society in general, or one of 100's of other life events, personality issues, or situations, but they have all come to a point where they have had to stand for what they believed in and stuck with their beliefs instead of compromising. Their walk is not one that is free of burn marks. However, it is those very marks that bring out their true flavor, nature and personality. Before their roasting they had potential, but the roasting is what really brought out their true character.
So like nuts Christians are better once we have been roasted / tested. The Bible is clear that tests will come in our lives, and I contend that after them we are not just stronger (as the Bible promises), but we also become better teachers and leaders. It is difficult to follow people that have not been at least near, if not too, where they are calling us to go. True leadership has less to do with position, then it does to do with experience, dedication and lifestyle. Sloppy, brutish leaders are not the ones that are successful, it is the ones that are organized and encouraging that people run too. This is because they, the ones that are organized and encouraging, know what it takes to go with God, but also know that the followers will survive and live through the test. Leaders that always encouraging others to grow and be tested, but do not change or grow themselves, eventually fall to the side because of their inability to go the distance with their followers.
So, today I just want to encourage all ours visitors to reach your own roasted nutty flavor...** LOL ** Seriously, work at becoming the type of leader that does not just call others to go, but actually goes with those that are called. Work at being the type of Christian that worked through the roasting process, and came out fuller and strong. Also know that we at Team Swap are probably the only people that you know that can call Christians nuts and mean it lovingly. That is simply because we are just reformed secular nut ourselves.
1 Peter 2:7 (NIV) Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, "
1 Peter 2:8 and,
"A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."
They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen 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. 10 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.
Or As the KJV Says
1 Peter 2:9 (KJV) - 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Quotes from the Web about Peculiar People -
From Rasmusen’s Weblog -
1 Peter 2:9 is about Christians, the continuation of the Jews, who consider themselves special and chosen by God, and are considered, when they are serious, “peculiar” by the other peoples of the world. Christians are like the freed prisoners of Plato’s Cave, who see the reality that casts the shadows seen by the prisoners as their only reality, but who cannot be understood well by the prisoners. Christians constantly face the temptation to pretend to still be prisoners, seeing the same things as everyone else. It is an insidious temptation, because the main thing it requires is silence, which comes easily to us anyway.
From Anonymous web source -
The peculiar characteristics of a certain person meant the characteristics specifically his own. "God's peculiar people" were those who belonged specifically to God. Paul wrote in this sense to Titus, that Titus as a minister should show himself a pattern of good works, and exhort his flock to shun ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly and righteously in this world, looking to the blessed hope of a life in heaven hereafter, because "the Lord gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). In Phillips' translation, this reads "Jesus gave himself for us, that he might make for himself a people of his own, clean and pure." There are no overtones of crankiness or egoism, therefore, when we claim to be peculiar people. It simply means that we feel we have been set aside for a specific calling: to demonstrate in our own lives a peculiar relationship with God. Others may follow the crowd, or run with the herd; but we as Christians believe that there are many areas in which we should stand aloof from the crowd, or oppose the herd, especially if the herd, like the Gadarean swine, is running down a steep place into the sea!
Titus 2 (NIV) - 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2 (NASB) - 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Titus 2 (KJV) - 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Go be nutty for God, and share that fully roasted nutty flavor with the world everywhere you go.
