ACE #179: That Set Apart Life

Have you ever felt like you just didn't belong to something or was out of place?  I remember being in college and I just couldn't make any close friends. (I kept relationships with most of my high school friends).  I didn't attach myself to any group of girls.  I was a member of a sorority, but I still never really felt like I "fit in" with anyone or anything specifically.  And when trouble or confusion came, it was easy for me to turn in the opposite direction and keep it moving.  But not fitting in didn't always feel natural; it actually felt a little uncomfortable.  It would take me years to realize that I was "set apart". 

The places where I most naturally fit in, with no hesitation, had to do with ministry work.  Being "set apart" also meant that there was a special design for me - from my birth!  It meant my actions, my thoughts, and my heart also had to be set apart.  When people were bullied, I just might be the only one that took a stand.  Where injustices existed, I just might have been the one to call them out.  When there were bad intentions, I had to be the one to give sound judgment and state what was the right thing to do. Sometimes it meant I had to pull away or separate myself from bad, mean-spirited, or "foolish" behavior.  I didn't always pass the test...well, I still don't.

But what it means now is that I have to be full of the fruit of the Spirit and not be the rotten apple! Being set apart often builds character, especially when it is accompanied by the study of God's Word. When you recognize that you are "set apart", trying to do what is pleasing to God gets a little easier.

Be glad to be set apart! Know that God has his hand on you for a specific purpose.
 
Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

John 17:15-18

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.