Set Apart

The verse for 6/17 is from 2 Corinthians 6:17.  These are the words of God, "Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.  Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you." NLT

As much as we would like to say it doesn't matter, or righteously insist that we're just being a good example, I think it does matter who we spend our time with and where we hang out.  It matters to God, so it should matter to us.  Yes, there are times when people won't come to know Jesus if we don't show Him to them through spending time with them.  However, the time we spend and the things we do with unbelievers should be contemplated and carried out very seriously.  We should let God direct us on what is appropriate and what is not.

Jesus hung out with some crazy people, but you'll notice that they began following Him and His ways after a short time in His presence.  So, since we are all imperfect people and we are in relationship or contact with other imperfect people, how do we discern when we're hanging out with the wrong people or in a compromising situation?  It's a fine line: do we or don't we?  I think, like anything else, we have to go back to what our motives are and ask ourselves if it's really God leading us to do what we do.  Or is it just us trying to either be someone's Savior or satisfy our own desires?  I think it takes some examination by us and God.

Let's look at the Message, verses 14-18, to see what God says about this subject.  "Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way:

"I'll live in them, move into them;
I'll be their God and they'll be my people.
So leave the corruption and compromise;
leave it for good," says God.
"Don't link up with those who will pollute you.
I want you all for myself.
I'll be a Father to you;
you'll be sons and daughters to me."
The Word of the Master, God."

We can reason all we want, but let it be for God's purposes.  Let's reach the unbelievers, but in a fashion directed only by God.  There is a right way and a wrong way.  Let's ask Him to show us which is which.