Dec 21

The call to separation from the world is a part of the call to holiness. In 2 Cor. 6:16-18, God tells us of this need for separation if we are to be the people he has called us to be:

"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.'"

The issue of separation from a world steeped in wickedness is a key aspect of our call to be a holy people to the Lord.

When Jesus prayed for his disciples near the end of his ministry here on earth, he said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (John 17:16).

At the end, whether it be the end of Jesus' ministry or our ministry,or the end of the world, the matter of holiness and separation keeps coming up. That is because for now the holy and the unholy are allowed by God to grow together, like wheat and weeds in a field. But when the end comes, there is a threshing and separating so that only that which was sown by God will be kept. The chaff will be blown away by the winds of judgment and separated forever from that which is holy in Christ. Yes, there is a final separation of the holy from the unholy.

Scripture for today: Matthew 25:31-33
Thought for today: The holy and the unholy cannot abide forever together.
Prayer for today: I worship you, Lord God, for your holiness.

DEC 21