Set Apart for God

Have you ever thought about what sets you apart?

What I mean is this. There are so many verses in the Bible about how Christians are supposed to be different. We are supposed to be set apart, made holy, a light.

But if the light is just the same level of brightness as the rest of the room, does it even make a difference?

Before we proceed any further, I want to take a hard look at ourselves. This isn’t easy—namely, because pride doesn’t always appreciate self-reflection. You may think I’m already judging you, but hey—I’m not. To be fair, I don’t even know you. All I’m asking is for you, random stranger (or person that I know who is only reading this after it’s written), to let God talk to you. The minute we think “okay, I’m good, God really can’t do anything more with me” is actually the moment that we’re dead. It’s the best, most cleansing feeling to know that we are most certainly alive, and God can continue to nurture us. Isn’t that awesome?! God still wants to whisper and mold you into someone in His image. That’s an honor, not something to dread.

Anyway: self-reflection.

My question is this: what really sets you apart from someone on the street that isn’t a Christian? No, I don’t mean some murderer. Just an average person. If someone put your lives up, your actions up, your day-to-day choices, words, and actions—would they be able to tell a difference?

Would they?

The answer can be kind of sobering.

1 Peter 2:9 says this: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

This is such an honor. God has set us apart. He calls us to be different. How can we make a difference in this world if, when looked at with an ice-cold eye (thank you, Wicked fans, that was for you), our lives…

Aren’t

That

Different

At

All?

“No,” you say. “See, how can we make Christianity appealing if we just are boring sticks in the mud? Nobody’s going to want to become a Christian if they have to give up all these good things!”

But there’s a fallacy in that logic. 

Our job is not to make Christianity appealing to the culture. Our job is to represent that Christianity itself is appealing, not because of what we’ve done, but what Jesus did. 

I, Hannah Carter, cannot add merit or “coolness” to being a Christian. Neither can you. It doesn’t matter how totally amazing your peers think you are or how dorky they think you are. Nope. Christianity is appealing because Jesus died for us. Jesus took the punishment for our sin. Jesus carries us into Heaven and snatches us from Satan’s maw. Jesus’s grace for us is appealing. Not us in ourselves! 

And what does Jesus ask from us? Literally, not much. Because He’s already done the heavy lifting (aka, defeating death, conquering Hell, destroying Satan, etc.) by Himself. What He does ask us is to be different. Set apart. Holy.

But don’t take my word. Just take His own words. His words through His lips and through Peter and Paul’s pens. 

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. —John 15:19

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. —Romans 12:1-2

Wow—a living sacrifice. Think about what a sacrifice is. A sacrifice is, according to the dictionary, “the act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.”

That’s not a light definition. It’s not easy to grapple with. But a living sacrifice means, sometimes, giving something up to be set apart from the world. It’s about loving Jesus, considering Him more important or worthy, than whatever treasures and joys the earth might provide. 

“Hold on,” you say. “Paul says that everything is permissible. I have freedom in Christ to do whatever I want!”

Hold on indeed. The true Bible verses are as follows:

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. —1 Corinthians 10:23-24

You may be able to do certain things, but are they constructive? What benefits do they give your spiritual life? You may be able to do certain things, but are they beneficial? Do they edify you—or build up your faith in Christ?

More importantly, will they build up other people, and not cause them to stumble? 

“But wait,” you say. “What I’m doing isn’t that bad. I’m a Christian; God will forgive me. I’m not going to Hell for this.”

But, you see...sometimes it’s not about what will “send us to Hell.” Sometimes it’s just about “what will hurt my witness?” I’ve also said this before, and because I like the analogy, I’ll use it again: the goal of a Christian isn’t to stay out of Hell. That would be like a spouse saying, “how badly can I treat my significant other without them divorcing me?” That’s not marriage (or a relationship with God) at all. Just like a spouse must, at all times, be thinking of how to treat his or her spouse, or how something might reflect on them or make them feel. 

It all circles back to: if I do this, will I become more like the world? How will people be able to tell me apart from the world? Is there anything beneficial to my spiritual life from this?

Paul says it well in Romans 6:1-2– “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

When we become Christians—or even if we’ve been a Christian all our lives—we will always have things that hinder us, that are stumbling blocks for ourselves or those around us. And the Bible details what counts as sin many times, very plainly. Know what ranks as one? Causing a brother to stumble in their faith. Causing a brother to sin. 

Sometimes, the best thing for our witness, for those around us, is for us to make a living sacrifice for God.

After all...when we’re a Christian, we’ve already made a declaration: “I am not my own, God. You can do with me what You want.”

It’s part of the contract we adhere to when we signed on: 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. —Galatians 2:20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, —1 Corinthians 6:19

So: is there a way that your light could grow brighter? Is there a way that you could be impacting more people for Christ, instead of having a negative or neutral impact on them? The best thing is, you don’t have to decide alone. God is always there. Take some time to pray and consider your witness. He’s always waiting.