We all understand the need to set some things apart, we actually do it with a lot of things. When we wash our clothes, we set them apart by colors, or at least my mother told me we should. We tend to set apart our vegetables from our meat on a plate. We set apart those items that should be refrigerated from those that don’t need to be. I think you get the idea. In Leviticus 11:44-45, God puts this into another perspective for us. “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” To “be holy” means to be “set apart.” These verses, along with the ones before them, set a spiritual precedent as well as physical ones—one of the distinctions between clean and unclean. By calling His people to be holy, God wanted them to be set apart, showing the difference as shining lights of His blessings and truths in comparison to the darkness around them.
You and I are also called to be set apart, and live for God, just as Jesus did. Following Jesus means more than simply listening to His teachings. Jesus says in Mark 8:34 that whoever wants to be His disciple, “must deny themselves,” be set apart, seeking to live holy lives, “and take up their cross and follow Me.” Notice that Jesus says we must deny ourselves, not just deny ourselves of something—like chocolate for lent. No, we are to deny our own self-interest and self-absorption. And then like Jesus, our new self should be focused on serving, not being served—to give of ourselves for the sake of others.
Jesus took up his cross and let himself be crucified, once for all, so that our old selves could be crucified, set apart from sin, and made new through Him—to take on the self-sacrificial life of Christ in place of our old sinful ways when we fully embrace His offer of grace and mercy. In the weeks ahead as we move toward celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, it is my prayer that Jesus will help us to follow Him more closely and fill us with His Spirit so that we may deny ourselves, be truly set apart, take up our cross, and follow Him into His Holiness and His righteousness.
Pastor David Price31
