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Author: Nico Angleys, from the Servants of the Word, an international, ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

Belonging by separating

In the book of Leviticus, God commands us, “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (Leviticus 20:26)

To be holy, in the Biblical sense of the word, means to be set aside or set apart from something else. In this verse, the LORD declares that Israel shall be separated from the other peoples of the earth. He gives two reasons: The first is that God himself is holy (that is, He is separate from all of creation); the second is that Israel belongs to God, in other words Israel is a people that is owned by God. In this declaring that we are to be holy, separate, set aside, the LORD explains to us that He himself is outside of creation and that He sees us as belonging to Him. The idea of possession can make us feel uncomfortable, but if we look steadily at the good and great being who is claiming us for himself, we have no reason to be uncomfortable. In fact, this is a comforting and wonderful truth: God himself wants us to be his own!

In what ways can we as a people be more separate and set aside for the LORD, in our small groups, in our community, and in our church?

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.