What Separates Christians

"For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." --Exodus 33:16

In Exodus 33, God tells Moses that He will only send His angel with them and that He will not go Himself as He cannot be in the presence of sin. In this verse, Moses shows that major separation between God's people and the rest of the world. As Christians, the only thing which separates us from the rest of the world is that Christ is with us. It is our job to try to introduce others to Him, and everyone should see that we are different because we are being led by a holy, infinite, all-knowing, and all-powerful God. However, people won't want Him if they can't see Him. How well are you showing that you're different? Could anyone even tell you're a Christian if you didn't tell them?

Identity Theft

"And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock." --Exodus 2:19

Some daughters came home early from watering their flock, and their dad asked how they finished so quickly. The verse above was their reply. The only problem is that an Egyptian didn't save them. Moses (an Israelite) did. Satan wants people to misidentify us. If people know that we are true Bible-believing Christians, then they might believe too. So, people just say, "Well, they have good morals," or they see our convictions as hatred (which is sadly true sometimes). What if people found out your true identity. Have you been living "undercover" for so long that people would be shocked? Or would people finally be able to make sense of why you're different? You see, God never once suggests that we are to be undercover for His service. As a matter of fact, we are to be a "peculiar people," people that just don't quite fit in. God expects us to be different, but are we? Has your identity in Christ been stolen?

Our Little Influence

"So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." --Genesis 45:8.

We often think that we are in control of our surroundings, circumstances, etc. However, God is in complete control of the world, and, while we have a free will, God can still take our actions and make His will shine through them. I highly doubt it was God's first intent to have Joseph nearly killed by his brothers, yet God used it to place Joseph into power (which He could have done without the slavery part). God is still in control and is more than able to accomplish His will with or without us. The question that remains is, will you see His hand in your life or just get bitter about things you can't control? God wants to use us, but often, we're the ones who shut ourselves out from Him.

Coming before a Holy God

"Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: ³And let us arise, and go up to Beth–el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." --Genesis 35:2-3.

Often, we like to think of God as approachable, and that as long as we come to Him, we're good. While this is true (as our sin has been paid for), we often forget about God's holiness. Jacob here shows three things that we should do to get ourselves in the right mindset as we present ourselves before a holy, flawless God.

1. Put away the strange gods that are among you. Simply put, remove anything that is more important to you than God Almighty. God tells us that we are not to have any gods before Him as the first commandment, and tells us later that we cannot serve two masters. This shows us that we cannot please Him as long as we are actively pursuing anything else, even if it "seems" noble.
2. Be clean. We need to take care of our sin. We live in a world that is just flat out filthy. Even if we manage to live the holiest of lives, our contact with the world will still soil us (just as if we walk in the mud and keep our clothes clean, our shoes will get a little dirty). We need the daily cleansing from the world that prayer and confession to God the Father will give us.
3. Change your garments. We should strive to present ourselves before Him as the best we can do. Just as you would not go to see the President (or king or the ruler of your country) in an old, grease-stained t-shirt with ripped jeans, we should not go to see an Almighty God this way. Now, what I am not saying is that a suit must be worn to every service or that women must wear dresses or anything close to that. To me, this is a personal conviction issue as far as what to wear, but the general principle must be that God deserves our best. If your best is a clean t-shirt and nice jeans, then wear that. God knows the heart, but the heart is reflected through our works. 

Next time you enter His presence, just remember, God is holy, and He expects us to at least attempt to meet that standard.

"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; ¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." --1 Peter 1:15-16

This post is not meant to diminish His grace by any means, but is just a note on the need to remember God's holiness. While His grace covers all, and the deepest of sinners can come to Him, this does not give us an excuse to live in sin (see Romans 6). If we do this, then we've made salvation nothing more than the "Get out of jail [hell] free" card in Monopoly.

Unworthy

"I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands." --Genesis 32:10

Jacob is returning from serving Laban here, and has almost gotten home. He realizes that God's blessings are really more than he deserved, and he has made God his God (not just his father's as was mentioned in a previous post). One of the things found in our current generation is that "we deserve better." Yet, if we set our entitled bratty attitudes aside and actually looked at God's standard and where we are, we would know we are unworthy of even the most basic mercy. The very fact that God gave Himself so we wouldn't have to spend eternity in hell is so large, we should never expect (from entitlement) that He deserves us anything more. He gave us everything we have, and any other blessings He decides to bestow upon us is just icing on the cake. When was the last time you just said, "Thank You" to the One Who has given you all?

Making It Personal

"And Isaac said unto his son [Jacob], How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." --Genesis 27:20

"And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: ²²And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." --Genesis 28:20-22

All too often, people see faith as something for their parents' generation, and not for them personally. Notice how Jacob says "thy God"? Jacob never took God as his God until after he returned from Laban's house. He does fulfill the vow in ch. 28 (listed above), but notice that his following God was conditional. Our worship of God must be both personal and unconditional if we want God's unrestricted blessings on our lives. God wanted to use Jacob (He'd made a promise after all), yet was only involved as Jacob would let Him be. Jacob had to make God personal if He wanted to see God's power. How many times do we simply see God's power in other's lives because we're busy just fulfilling our parents' religion?

As a side note, one of our first responsibilities as parents is to show the importance of God in daily life. If He's not important to us, He won't be important to our kids--they learn through observation, not speeches. One of Satan's biggest lies is that kids from Christian homes don't need God for themselves, and, as a result, they become one of his biggest prey. Make sure your children know why it matters that God be personal to them. He wants fellowship with us individually and collectively, and He made us for that purpose. Why won't we take time to personally spend time with the One Who personally crafted us?

Staying in God's Will

"And the Lord appeared unto him [Isaac], and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:" Genesis 26:2

One of Isaac's father's biggest mistakes was going down to Egypt in time of famine. To keep Isaac from following in his father's wrong footsteps, he directly intervened, explaining that it is better to do God's will than to go toward the "greener grass." We as parents teach our children daily, and while Isaac was not yet born when Abraham went down to Egypt, I'm sure he learned of the story. So, I guess the question here would be, "What are you teaching your children: to trust God in His will or leave to what you "see" will be better?" Working in the ministry isn't easy or lucrative (if you're truly working in ministry and not a televangelist asking for money), but it provides infinitely better than even the best [secular] job available in your field. If you're a lay-person, there's no shame in that (despite the connotations that are often portrayed unwittingly by those in the ministry), but just make sure you're involved in your church wherever God leads you. Only you can know God's will for your life, but, then again, only you can obey it.

Just a quick apology. I meant to get a post up yesterday (3/6), but I've had some computer issues that just finally got resolved. Lord willing, posts should appear on a daily basis from this point forward.