Christ died that He might make us a “peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV). A great many Christians are afraid that they will be peculiar.

A few weeks before God took Enoch to heaven, his acquaintances would probably have said that he was a little peculiar; they would have told you that when they had a bridge party and the whole countryside were invited, you would not find Enoch or one of his family present. He was very peculiar.

We are not told that he was a great warrior or a great scientist or a great scholar. In fact, we are not told that he was anything that the world would call great, but he walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years, and he is the brightest star that shone in that dispensation.

If he could walk with God, cannot you and I? He took a long walk one day, and has not come back as yet. The Lord liked his company so well that He said, “Enoch, come up higher.”

I suppose that if we asked the men in Elijah’s time what kind of a man Elijah was, they would have said, “He is very peculiar.” The king would have said, “I hate him.” Jezebel did not like him; the whole royal court did not like him and a great number of the nominal Christians did not like him; he was too radical.

I am glad that the Lord had seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal; but I would rather have Elijah’s little finger than the whole seven thousand. I would not give much for seven thousand Christians in hiding.

They will just barely get into heaven; they will not have crowns.

See that “no one will take your crown” (Revelation 3:11). Be willing to be one of Christ’s peculiar people, no matter what men may say of you! D. L. MOODY

A day is coming in which the crown jewels of our great King shall be counted, that it may be seen whether they answer to the inventory which His Father gave Him. My soul, wilt thou be among the precious things of Jesus? Thou art precious to Him if He is precious to thee, and thou shalt be His "in that day," if He is thine in this day.

In the days of Malachi, the chosen of the Lord were accustomed so to converse with each other that their God Himself listened to their talk. He liked it so well that He took notes of it; yes, and made a book of it, which He lodged in His record office. Pleased with their conversation, He was also pleased with them. Pause, my soul, and ask thyself: If Jesus were to listen to thy talk would He be pleased with it? Is it to His glory and to the edification of the brotherhood? Say, my soul, and be sure thou sayest the truth.

But what will the honor be for us poor creatures to be reckoned by the Lord to be His crown jewels! This honor have all the saints. Jesus not only says, "They are mine," but, "They shall be mine." He bought us, sought us, brought us in, and has so far wrought us to His image that we shall be fought for by Him with all His might.

Ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.—I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.—I am his.—The Son of God . . . loved me, and gave himself for me.

Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.—The Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.—Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.—A spiritual house, an holy priesthood.

They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.—All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.—The glory of his inheritance in the saints.

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

I will come again, and receive you unto myself.

He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe . . . in that day.

We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

Thus saith the Lord that created thee, . . . Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.—Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of mine hands: thy walls are continually before me.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : and he delighteth in his way.—My delights were with the sons of men.—The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.—They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.

Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord ; for his mercies are great.—I am with thee, saith the Lord , to save thee: . . . I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.—He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.—I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.—Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.

Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.