RARE Is A Four Letter Word

A few years back, I finally fulfilled a big dream of mine, a dream that Michelle had successfully squashed for many years. My dream was to own a Ducati Street Bike. Finally, she caved in under the years of intense bombardment. I found a Ducati Monster S2R 1000 for sale and purchased it. This bike is unlike most bikes on the road because it’s Italian-made, has a single-sided swingarm, and has a dry clutch. It’s very fast, very beautiful, very distinctive, and a very rare bike to see. When you do see one, there is no doubt it is a Ducati. You would never confuse a Ducati with a Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki.

Reading over some of my journals, I came across this verse.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:9‬ ‭HCSB‬‬


In 1 Peter 2, Peter is telling the people that when Jesus came, He was rejected. He was rejected because he didn’t come as a king as the people wanted; Jesus came as a servant. He didn’t come as a conqueror as they wanted; He came to suffer. He goes on to describe how the Jewish people rejected His coming, and people continue to stumble over him even today. Then Peter changes gears and talks directly to believers.

In verse nine, Peter starts out with the word “But”! Peter was speaking to the followers of Christ then, and Peter is also speaking to me, and every other Christian, today. We must be distinctive; we should look drastically different from the world. When people look at us and watch our daily lives, we should not look like every other flavor of religion or person. We should be very different from the world around us.

A Ducati looks nothing like other racing bikes, and we should look nothing like non-believers. A true spirit-filled Christian walking in their true purpose is even rarer than a Ducati.

I had a guy approach me at the Walmart parking lot after I had parked my bike. He said, “I bet that bike cost about $20,000? I have never actually seen one in person.” I must admit, there has never been a time when someone has approached me at Walmart or anywhere and asked me, “There’s something very different about you; what makes you so rare?” I have heard people say that the problem with Christianity is that you can’t tell a believer from a non-believer today.

If the world looks at me, do I look different? Do we, as Christians, look different? In a way, I want to be a Ducati in a world full of Honda’s, Yamaha’s, and Suzuki’s.

My prayer and I hope your prayer will be; Lord, let me be so different that people will ask me, “Why?”