When God chose His nation through Abraham in the Old Testament, He set them apart from all other nations. They were different… with different laws, mandates, and systems. They were told not to intermarry with foreigners because those people would bring their idols into the nation that was set apart and eventually their idolatry would capture the hearts of God’s people. Did they listen? Sometimes, but mostly they did not. God put His stamp on them (a stamp that proved they were different from all the other nations). What was that stamp? Circumcision. This was an outward sign that they belonged to God.
We do not live under the Old Covenant but we too have been set apart from the peoples of this earth. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:11: “When you came to Christ you were circumcised, but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision – the cutting away of your sinful nature.” As believers in Jesus, the signs we belong to God and not to the world – the way we are different from the world – is by two things. Let’s examine both of them…
We have been set apart by the…
Blood of Jesus! The moment you and I said YES to Jesus, He poured His blood into us. The blood of Jesus brought us to God (Ephesians 2:13), made us right in God’s eyes (Romans 5:9), cleanses us (Hebrews 9:14), and gives us access to the throne of God (Hebrews 10:19). Peter calls this blood precious (I Peter 1:19). No wonder.
We have been set apart by the…
Holy Spirit! You and I have God Himself living inside us. This is one of the most amazing things about our Christianity. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:13-14: “When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” Don’t overlook the last part… He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
This brings me to an important point… since we are set apart from the world and we belong to God, we are to live differently, think differently, and act differently than the world. This has always been God’s standard for His people. God’s ways for His people are almost always different than the world’s ways. Therefore, we are to live biblically not worldly.
With that said, I will go so far to say that if we are truly living biblically, we will get push back from the world. It may not be vicious persecution like those in the first century or what many Christians have experienced through the centuries, but we will come up against opposers. If we are truly speaking truth, standing on the side of truth (and not compromising), then people of the world could very well be offended. Our key verse says that we are live holy lives. Here’s the thing… It should not be our goal to have everyone like us. It should our goal to glorify God. ‘
So, let me ask you… Are you living biblically? Is your life and your actions glorifying God? Something to think about for sure.