In the early 1800s there was a man who would minister to the Indian nations in Oklahoma and the surrounding prairie country. That was a time before many of the places in that area had ever seen white men or had been given names. Our man was tall and thin, but rock hard and steely eyed. He had flaming red hair, was clean shaven and well dressed. He saddled his horse and packed his mule, then with Bible in his long coat disappeared among the Osage and Sioux. He was determined to make them all good Methodists.

Years later our hero emerged in St. Louis, a veteran mountain man, experienced in the ways of the wilderness and respected highly among his peers. But two things had happened to him that he never would have expected.

First, somewhere early in his journeys, he forgot all about the Bible and making Indians Methodists. It seems that he had a great deal more success hunting buffalo and trapping beavers along with his red friends. He gained a reputation among both red and white of knowing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain and points south from there like the back of his hand. He was a friend to both Cheyenne and Blackfoot; he even was able to penetrate the high country of Southwest Colorado and became a brother to the Ute nation. He basked in the glory of his notoriety among westering men and did what he could to further cultivate the image. His original goals were forgotten, and he enjoyed the life of the wild.

Second, our hero became an Indian. He lived among the tribes, whichever one was the most accommodating and least threatening, and he even took an Indian wife. Rumor is that he followed the Indian custom of the day and took more than one, but it cannot be proven that he had more than one at a time. His short cropped fiery red hair became long and matted, and it danced on his buckskin clad shoulders as his confident stride converted to a "bold as you please, step aside" swagger. And he smelled. It wasn’t just the odor of unwashed humanity, but it was a mixture of that and whatever you could pick up from buffaloes and mules by too close association. He had left as a clean-cut, respectable man of the cloth and had come back more savage than the men he went out to tame.

Bill Williams was so uncivilized that he was Fremont’s last choice in guiding his survey across the mountains of Southwest Colorado. Other’s had turned Fremont down, but Old Bill knew that country like the back of his hand. This trip ended in tragedy for most involved. Fremont left the expedition before the blizzard, and Williams, with a few others escaped to warmer regions to the south. Most of the men floundered in the snow and froze to death.

There is a point to all of this. We are here for a purpose. Paul tells us of Jesus, that he "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). Peter tells us, "But ye are a elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Our purpose is to glorify God through our zealous obedience to his will.

Too often we are so distracted by the things of this world that go on around us that we become more interested in them than the work. It is easy for us to get caught up in secular work, recreation and the piling up of treasures so that we lose sight of our importance in "holding forth the word of life" (Phil. 2:15-16). What is truly important to us? What occupies our time.

The congregation can also lose sight of its purpose. Our reason for existing is to further the cause. We are not a social club (though social relationships with Christians is precious), we are not mere housekeepers and bill payers for the Lord. The church is not a benevolent society, set up by God to cure all the social ills of the world. Yet sometimes the church gets bogged down in these activities. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and the work of local congregations should center around that fact. Our work is evangelism.

We need to busy ourselves with such. Let’s make it our goal to convert the sinner and show the lost the way to God through Jesus.

Second, we must remember that we are a "peculiar people" (Titus 2:14 – KJV). We have been sanctified, or set apart as "God’s own possession." We must not become so involved in the activities of this world that we lose sight of our spiritual identity. We are not of this earth. Paul said, "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:20). Our lives and conduct must reflect our origin. They say you can always tell a Texan. It should be that you can always tell a Christian. Paul tells us, "And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom 12:2). And Peter adds, "Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12).

The problem is, if we become like the people who are of the world, when it comes time to go home, we won’t fit in. Bill Williams could never go back to civilization to live, because he no longer fit. Could it be that we will miss heaven because we are too much like the people of the world?

My first room mate in college was Iranian. His name was Dariush Sephr-Noori. His father told him as he put him on the plane for America, "Do not become an American." Why not? He would not fit in when it came time to come home, and that time would surely come. Our ways are so different from theirs. Our perspectives on life vary more than you can imagine, unless you have been over there.

We who are Christians are to stand out. We contrast with the world like lights in the dark (Matt. 5:14-16; Phil. 2:15). It is vital that we maintain that separation of character and behavior.

Bill Williams could never go back home to live. He didn’t fit in there. When it comes time for us to go home, will we fit in?