Friday, November 4, 2005

Being Remarkable

Been thinking about what it means to be remarkable. This was spurred on by a couple of books by Seth Godin: The Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable, and The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable.

It has occurred to me that being remarkable is what holiness is about (see Being Holy). To be holy means to be set apart. In the context of Scripture, it means to be set apart for God’s special purposes. The Bible teaches us that God is holy. That means that He is uniquely and completely set apart. There is nothing else in the universe like Him. He is infinite in all His attributes. He is altogether remarkable.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name.” To hallowed means to be recognized as holy. The Message Bible translates this as “Reveal who You are” (see Father, Reveal Who You Are). If holiness is remarkableness, then we can say it this way: “Show how remarkable You are.”

Yes, Lord, show the world how totally unique and remarkable you are!

The Bible says that Jesus came to sanctify us (Hebrews 10:10), that is, to make us holy — set apart for God alone. In other words, He came to make us remarkable.

For years now, my father has operated a nursery for tropical foliage plants, selling them primarily to flower shops. He calls his business Old Weird Harold’s. This name is a play on three things—my father’s given name (Harold), the name of a character developed by Bill Cosby and, more importantly, a verse in Scripture which says, “Who 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 KJV — the NKJV says, “His own special people”).

Jesus has redeemed us from all iniquity. He has purified as to be His own special people who have a zeal for good works. Remarkable!

When my father ran a flower shop, he had his sales receipts printed to read, “Old Weird Harold’s Nursery and Emporium — a wholly owned subsidiary of Jesus Christ.”

All those who know the Lord Jesus Christ are holy — wholly owned subsidiaries of Jesus Christ. We belong to God alone — the remarkable people of a remarkable God, called to be remarkably zealous for good works. This is what changes the world.

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