Stand Out from the Crowd

I was lurking around as a guest on one of the forums Google leads me to, and I saw this post and decided to reproduce it wholesale here (without permission). Let's discuss this (Twitter, G+, comments) after the jump.

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

'Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without...thinking...' Romans 12:2

A man walking into a bank held the door open for the lady behind him. Instead of thanking him, she said, 'You don't have to hold the door because I'm a woman.' Smiling, he replied, 'I'm not doing it because you're a woman, I'm doing it because I'm a gentleman.' As believers we do what we do because of who we are 'in Christ', not because of how society thinks we should act. John says, '...The Holy Spirit...lives within...so [we] don't need anyone to teach [us] what is true...' (1John 2:27 NLT). In his book 'Hope Again', Chuck Swindoll says: 'In the Marine Corps...our troopship carried us...onto Japanese soil...For many of us, it was our first visit to a foreign country. We were surging with excitement...Our company commander called us together...and...said..."Remember, for the first time in your lives, you're the foreigners. This isn't your country or your culture...you're the minority. These aren't your fellow citizens; they don't speak your language. They know nothing of your homeland except what they see in you...Act in a way that the Japanese people will gain a good impression of your country."...As Christians,...our citizenship is in heaven...We belong to the kingdom of God...We need to be on our best behaviour, otherwise people will get a distorted perception of what our homeland is like...Our earthly culture is pagan to the core...God left us here for a purpose...to demonstrate what it's like to be a member of another country, to have a citizenship in another land, that we might create a desire for others to emigrate.' Think about it!

Bob Gass

Edit: I checked out Bob Gass' site and realized it's today's devotional.