A Life Set Apart

As I was attempting to come up with a topic to talk on this week I realized that I have never talked on why I chose "A Life Set Apart" for the title of my blog...

The Christian life is marked by something we call "holiness" which in essence means to be set apart, different...and radically different at that. As "Christians" in a fallen world we are going to look different, act different, respond different, and live differently then those we consistently interact with. There will be questions, there will be mockery, there will be slandering, there will be encouragement...and in each of these situations our righteous response should be thankfulness.

Romans 12:1 reads, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." This verse is the verse behind the title of my blog. As Christians we are to live our life as a sacrifice to the one who redeemed us, who pulled us from the destruction we were to encounter and rescued us to be one of His. But what does it mean to present ourselves as "holy"?

Holiness in the Hebrew is defined as "sacred, set apart" in the Aramaic as "separate", in the Greek as "undefiled, pure" and in the English as "exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness, divine". As we see within these definitions, being holy is anything but common. It is anything but typical and it is rare at that. Therefore how can God call us to something that seems nearly impossible? He is not commanding perfection in our holiness but rather progression. A seeking, a desire, and a drive to be more holy, more like Him. Here are some verses to exhort us in our pursuits of holiness...

Exodus 31:13 "You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD; who makes you holy."

Leviticus 11:44a "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy."

Leviticus 11:45 "I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy."

Deuteronomy 26:19 "He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised."

Deuteronomy 33:3 "Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down, and from you receive instruction..."

Psalm 33:21 "In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name."

Ephesians 5:25a-27 "...just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

From these texts in Scripture it is evident that God is Holy and it is only through Him that we are made Holy (made like His Son). We should constantly be seeking areas of refinement in our lives so we too can be seen as living lives that are "set apart".

Service? This is supposed to be our spiritual "service" or "act" of worship. What this means is that as redeemed of the King we are commanded to live our lives as a service to Him. In all we do, think and say we should be acting in a way that is righteous and pleasing to Him. It is an act of worship. We were made to be worshippers of God and therefore in all we do we should be ascribing glory to Him as He sits on the throne in our hearts. If we are worshipping anything other than Him we have fallen into idolatry and need to repent and get back on track. Serving Him with our lives is our command.

And what does it mean to present ourselves pleasing to Him? Or acceptable? Well we know that anything in and of ourselves is not ever going to please the King of Kings or be worthy of His approval. Therefore we must rest in the blood of Jesus Christ. The Gospel teaches us that it is by His wounds that we are healed. In Isaiah 53:12 we read, "For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." He endured the pain and punishment of God's eternal wrath so that when we stand before the Almighty He will look at us as righteous and blameless as He looks at His Son! What an amazing gift of love and grace that truly is...hard to comprehend! But because of this we should seek to live righteously, obeying His commands and honoring Him in all we do.

So what does it mean then to live a life set apart? In essence it is just what it says, to live set apart from this culture. To run a race with endurance toward a prize that is unseen, to run upstream and against the current as the world attempts to thwart your course, to live to honor Him rather than yourself and anyone else, to live a life that is marked by selflessness, humility and 1 Corinthians 13 love exampled in Christ, and to pursue holiness with every fiber of your being!