“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,“ 2 Corinthians 6:17
In the Old Testament,
it often meant that people were worshiping other gods
or had idols in their life that they were choosing over God
The unclean thing can mean any sort of worldly lust
or desire
or engagement
Jesus wants us to be set apart from the World,
those things that distract us from Him,
those things that waste our time,
make us less productive as Christians
These are usually not tangible things
For example, reading the horoscope
or even the fortune in fortune cookies is unclean,
an 8-ball that you ask questions to
immorality, things that distract you from the Lord
All of these are unclean things
that are seeking answers apart from God’s word
Don’t hang onto anyone or anything
that interferes in your relationship with God
That doesn’t mean you can’t love people
who haven’t committed their lives to the Lord
We are supposed to love people and minister to them
as He opens the doors of communication
or opportunities to share our love and compassion
If you are confused about this,
ask Him for clarity,
because it’s a lot to absorb and a lot to learn
When the Israelites were with other nations,
they were not allowed to mingle
Mainly because they would be led astray
to worship their idols and distract them from serving the Lord
Be ye separate, says the Lord
A friend of the World is an enemy of God
The full verse is in James 4:4: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
Paul called people who were friends with the World Adulterers
That is, they were leaving their first love
to pay attention to other things besides God
The Psalmist said in 10:4 “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
Jesus wants to be your first love,
He wants you to consider Him in all you do
and be thinking about how to please Him every way you can
I think of how I can love others
because I know He values that
and be a good representative of Him as I relate to others
In Revelation, there were several churches mentioned
and they are representative of the spiritual condition of God’s people
To the church of the Laodiceans,
Jesus was angry that they were not strongly dedicated to Him
He requires us to follow Him completely
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15&16
To the church of Ephesus, He told them they were doing a pretty good job, mostly, then He said: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Revelation 2:4
God is your strength
If you are trying to please God,
He knows your heart
He sees your struggles
and Jesus is there to help you for the asking
Reach out to Him
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9