Separation

  I have mentioned several times about my work on a farm and the cream separator but there are many other ways to get involved with separation. Separating the cream from the milk is one thing that we did but we also separated the nails from the screws and the washers. Separation of items then gets down to another level when you separate the nails that have heads and the ones that don't and even the nails that are square instead of round. Screws get separated from the phillips to the flat head and now there are square, octagonal, star and other types of fasteners that require different drivers in order to do them. We simply do the separation in order to find something later when we need it. The larger coffee can was the one that held all kinds of items and you never knew exactly what was in it. Spiritually speaking, separation is also mentioned in the Bible. Second Corinthians 6:17 says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”         

        There were those times when a person liked to straddle the fence. You couldn't tell which side they were on, this side or the other one. The problem in the early church in Corinth was that the people were being saved that were involved in idolatry and the Apostle Paul reminded them that they needed to be separated from the things of the former life. Many people have a hard time with separation from the things of the world and usually bring up the idea of witnessing the them instead of pulling out of their fellowship. The question for today is “when do you separate yourself from that which is of the world?” The world has already earmarked many people as being either orthodox or unorthodox, conservative or liberal, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic and the list goes on and on. Baptists then separated themselves into Southern, American, Free Will, Independent and Anabaptist. There are probably a lot more than that around today. The separation gets finer and finer as years go by. Separation needs to be in regard to the truth of the Scriptures. Separation involves many different areas such as religious and secular. It is discussed quite frequently in family relationships and how or where you can worship God. I may enjoy the music at one church and the building at another church and the parking lot of still another church, but the one thing that is central is the groups regard for the Word of God. We know that the building is not the church but the people in it that make up that particular local church. Through the years, I have looked for the perfect local church. The story then goes that if you find the perfect church and join it, then it is no longer perfect. It is you that made the difference. That is because we all have our own feeling in regard to sermon length, temperature, music, carpet color, window glass and involvement in missions. To me, one of the first items should be the stand on the Bible. When I hear a church leader say, “The apostle Paul had it all wrong...” I immediately have a problem with their regard for the Bible. In the above verse, Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth to separate themselves from the idolatry that had been a part of their former lives. The same thing can be said of us today, even here in our country. Unfortunately, the church seems to think that it should incorporate the things of the world in their ministry in order to attract the world, but it doesn't work that way. When you can't tell the difference between the world and the church, the church has gone too far. Use the Bible as your standard and you won't go wrong. Praise God for His Word.