Be separate!

I've recently been looking over other people's blogs and websites and I have to say I was greatly unsettled at what I've seen in different blogs. Blogs of people who claim to be Christians but when I went there I couldn't tell. They dragged Christ's name and reputation through the mud! It greatly disturbed me, thus, I'm writing a post. :) The Bible says, "Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord...' " (2 Corinthians 6:17). 2 Corinthians 6:11-18 is talking about being holy, how to become holy, and it says in verse 17, as you've just read, to "come out from among them and be separate." Come out from among them. Think of it this way. You are in a house filled with people, it's time to leave, so what do you do? You come out of the house, you leave them behind, you walk away, you come out from among them! We are called to leave the world behind, to come out from among the world. It also says "be separate." For my own sake I looked up "separate" in the dictionary. Separate: "1. To set or keep apart; divide; disunite." We are to "set or keep apart" ourselves from the world. Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). Jesus did not come to unite all people, make peace with people and to be everybody's friend. He came to separate His people from the world, to be the world's enemy. And if Jesus did thus, then we should as well! We are to separate ourselves from the world, the people and the things in the world. "Do not love the world of the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him" (1 John 2:15). If you didn't get it before, it's crystal clear there. We cannot love God and the world. "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). Think about it! What do you prize most, the things of the world: friendships, money, being cool, being in the "in" crowd, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, etc.? Or Christ and what He loves: Himself, His word, His glory, His honor, and His name, etc.! We don't live to protect our own reputation, as Christians, we live to protect Christ's name and reputation! Don't drag His name through the mud! Be separate!