2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”
Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not as easy option. It is not a ‘Come unto Me and all your problems will disappear’ Gospel. It is more a call to holiness and separation from the world. Yet there is always the problem of being in the world but not being a part of it. We are called to a holier way of living. A way which invites all the jeers and cat-calls of the mockers. A way which can, especially today, lead to persecution and even death.
Jesus taught us that we are a seed, and as such, we must therefore, like all seeds, go to the ground and die so that we may grow again as a strong new plant. That is all about dying to self and living for God so that He may be seen in our lives. Salt and light, we are called. Salt that we might be a preservative of God’s truth, and light that the light of God may shine through our lives into a dark world. Peter, when speaking at the first Pentecost, said in Acts 2:40 “ . . . . “ ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ “ – Do not be a part of the world. Be in the world but not of the world.
But we are not to journey alone through life. There is a call to “the fellowship of believers” – in other words make your close friends among fellow believers. I do not believe this is a call to exclusivity however, as Jesus commands us to ‘love our neighbours as ourselves’. The Bible also talks elsewhere about ‘by their love shall you know them’. The emphasis is always to remain in the world but to keep ourselves apart from that world.
Finally, in 1 Peter 4:8, the apostle writes, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” “ This, I believe, is a call to discretion, but not at the expense of open-ness and honesty. I am talking here about resolving a sinful situation by first talking/reconciling privately, before going to pastor, and before going public. In other words we wash our dirty linen in private as far as both we and the law allows us to do so.
We are called to separation without exclusiveness; to holiness without aloofness and snobbery; to love God and to love all those around us – no matter our differences. Always remember that God certainly hates the sin but He also still loves the sinner. No-one is beyond His love. Do you think He loves you more than some people in the world? No, no, no – Gods love is exactly the same for every single human being of every nation, tribe, tongue, colour, sex, religion, faith, politics, orientation or whatever.
We all have the same choices, but we are called to be a little bit separate.
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