Verse
of the day: Exodus 12:31 Then he
called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my
people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.”
The
message Moses and Aaron received, to take the Israelites out from among the
Egyptians, is one that we as born again believers have been given by God, in
respect to coming out from among the world and its ways. Here, Pharaoh, after
being directly affected by God’s final plague against him and Egypt as a whole,
now wants the Israelites gone from among them. Pharaoh’s reason for wanting
them gone is far different than God’s reason for wanting His people gone from
among them. Pharaoh and the Egyptians want God’s people gone because of the fear
and suffering Egypt is experiencing; while God wants to free His people from
the oppression of being in Egypt. This is a picture of what God wants for us
today. In Christ, He has set us free from sin and death (John 8:36, Galatians
5:1), but He has also calls us out from among the world, and the unsaved. God
told the Israelites, in respect to being set apart, in Deuteronomy 14:2, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special
treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” This was repeated in the
New Testament Scriptures for us, the child of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10 tell us, “But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you
may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; 10 who once were not
a people but are now the people
of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” The
Apostle Paul reminded us to come out from among the unsaved in 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. I will be a Father to you, and you shall
be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” What does this mean for us, the
born again believer? This does not mean that we cannot have unsaved friends.
This does not mean that we isolate ourselves, and never have contact with
unsaved people, or never attend functions or events where there will be unsaved
people. The Apostle Paul explained this well in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually
immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with
the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or
extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a
brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or
a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.” This
is where we, as God’s children, need to use godly wisdom in how we live for the
Lord here on earth. We are to be among the unsaved in order to win them to the
Lord. This means that we must live in a way that glorifies God in the way we
talk, our attitude towards God and others, and our actions toward others, and
how we interact with them. We have been freed from a life of sin; therefore, we
must avoid being re-enslaved by such a lifestyle. The Apostle Peter wrote in 2
Peter 2:20-22, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For
it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than having known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them
according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having
washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’” This does not mean that we cannot enjoy
life here on earth. We can attend weddings, and other celebrations where there
are unsaved people; however, we do not need to get drunk, dance in a manner
that is lewd, or use language that is vile, just because other are
participating in such behavior. Just because it is okay to attend a wedding or
other type celebrations, does not make it right for us to go clubbing, where we
know that there will be alcohol, drugs, and people seeking elicit sexual encounters.
We must not stoop to the levels of sinful behavior that the unsaved will stoop
to, as an excuse to win them. We can work, and earn a living, without living
covetously, becoming materialistic, and sacrificing our relationship with God,
and loved ones, on the altar of status in society. The bottom line is that we
are called to be separated unto the Lord, but we are to use wisdom in how we
live so that we can still enjoy life, yet be mindful of our testimony, and
looking for opportunities to share Jesus with others. The Lord can use our
godly way of living as a means to open doors for us to share the Gospel, and
lead others to Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment