We are called to be holy. We should be obedient. We should not be like the world. But, we are not to remove ourselves from the world. We are to be in it.
The latter is not my problem. The boy is in the world. I just don’t always manage to get the world out of the boy.
The trick then is to be in the world, but not of it. To be so engulfed, so immersed, that some people won’t be able to tell the difference between us and those that God would have us reach and rescue.
My concern and caution then is that we shouldn’t confuse or misunderstand the verse that says we should come out from among them. What is unclean shouldn’t be fondled. But what is unclean?
The most unclean thing that a Jew can come into contact with is a dead body, a carcass or corpse. That doesn’t refer to those who are dead in their sins. But the thought does make me wonder about those whose faith is sometimes dead. Because sometimes that describes me.
Such faith is devoid of works. It doesn’t resemble the vibrant life that it once produced.
Our faith can become like that—lifeless, impotent—especially when it isn’t exercised. That’s when faith atrophies and can die. Then it’s incapable of regenerating life.
Today, perhaps more than ever, we need to be full of life. Now is not the time for spiritual tourniquets. Amputating ourselves from the world, even under the guise of spending more time with God, will not make us more like Jesus.
Sanctification is vital. But that’s a work of God, not the work of man. Our task is to stay connected to him, the source of all life. But God works on the inside. And because his work is internal, not external, it’s eternal.
Jesus showed us that time and again and pleaded for us to be like him. Jesus said: follow me, do what I do, go where I go, learn the unforced rhythms of grace. If we do, we’ll be known as he was--a friend of sinners. When we do, we’ll become saints with dirty hands, but pure hearts.
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