Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”  “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”  2 Corinthians 6:17-18 HCSB

There is an idiomatic phrase that says, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”.  This describes an avoidable error where we might be tempted to throw the good out with the bad or the clean out with the unclean

When people pan for gold, they dip up gravel into a pan and wash the gravel and sift through it in an attempt to separate the gold from the gravel. Gold then must go through a process to remove the impurities. Our souls have to be cleansed and purified as well.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that in Christ we are a new creation, old things are passed away and all things have become new.  So, if we are saved, and I mean truly saved, then we become new creatures.  The scripture goes on to say that once we become new creations in Christ that we are reconciled with God.  God reconciles us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This means that we are made to be able to co-exist in harmony with God.  We are able to be of one accord with Him.  You see, we come into this world as sinners.  You don’t have to teach a child to lie, it comes naturally.  You don’t have to teach children to be selfish, it comes naturally.  You do have to teach children to love God.  You do have to discipline children and separate the undesirable behavior.

Our heavenly Father does the same with us.  Once we accept Christ as our Savior, He cleanses us.  He makes us new creations.  He removes the undesirable part of us.  Now this all sounds great, right?  But we must be careful.  You see the devil is always prowling around seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  And new Christians or baby Christians are easy prey just as a baby animal is easy prey for a large predator.  For this reason, we must do the best we can to separate ourselves from sin and evil.  We must stay close to God and be protected by Him.

Once we are saved by Christ, we are purified by Him.  He washes our sins away.  1 John 1:9 tells us that If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Once we are cleansed, what remains is the new creation that has been sanctified by the blood of Christ. The old sinful habits are washed away and the new clean creature remains. Praise God, when He cleanses us, He separates us from the dirty, evil, sin that has entangled our lives.  I am so grateful that He didn’t decide we weren’t worth saving and decide to throw us out with the bath water.  Instead, He decided to separate us from the worthless things in our lives.  Just as the miner separates the worthless gravel from the gold.

Once God cleanses us, we have a choice.  We can remain clean and separate ourselves from this sin or we can dive right back into it.  Now, let me say that once you are truly saved, you enter into a relationship with your Lord and Savior and you want to please Him, so you don’t want to enter back into your old sinful lifestyle.  However peer pressure and stress and the things that we face on a daily basis can draw us back in if we are not careful.  You see we can’t love God and remain neutral.  We must stand apart from those that don’t know God or don’t love God.  Otherwise, how will they be able to see what a Christian looks like.  We are on display to a lost world.  We must be separate and apart from our old sinful nature.

If you don’t know Christ, then believe me you don’t know what you are missing.  The cleansing that comes from God is the best feeling ever.  If you have just recently been saved and are a baby Christian, then trust in God to lead and guide you.  Know that you are vulnerable to the devil.  Follow the instructions in James 4:7, submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  If you were saved but have backslidden due to stress or peer pressure, know that it is not too late.  God can help get you back on track.

Our pastor often says that our witness is very important because we may be the only bible some people will ever read.  You may be influencing others whether you know it or not.  Wouldn’t you rather have more Christians in the world than sinners?  So stand apart and show those that you are influencing what it is like to truly be a child of God washed in the blood of Christ.  Show them what remains once the sin is washed away.

Have a great day!