Called to be Separate and Holy

2 Corinthians 6:11-18

“O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. 13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”

It is important for us to understand the doctrine of separation. The call to be unequally yoked does not mean that we turn into isolation. Nor does it mean that we fellowship with anyone regardless of what they believe or how they live. We are called to practice Christian love, but we also need to be reminded that Christian love must exercise discernment.

It is nature that determines our association. Birds of a feather flock together. How often do we deliver this line to our children? “Choose your friends wisely.” We know that even the best of children can be influenced in a direction that they would never have considered by a close friend. As believers we possess a divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3-4 states, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Therefore, we should desire to associate ourselves with the things that please the Lord. We have been called and equipped through the Holy Spirit to be separate and holy unto the Lord.

Pastor Amber Clendenin