God’s people are to be set apart for him.

We see this with the Israelites. Then, God allowed this holiness for all people who submit to Jesus for their salvation and life.

As Christians far removed from ancient times, we can easily forget the details wrapped up in Jesus’ command to love God with our whole being. Jeremiah 2:19 relays what God said through Jeremiah the prophet, related to Israel: “ Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me...” God continues with evidence and analogies of Israel’s unfaithfulness, then states in verse 35, “Yet in spite of all this you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’”

Those are strong words! Isn’t it easy to look at the Israelites and think how ridiculous they were to believe that images of wood and stone could do anything for them? Yet, here we are in this day and age making idols of metal, glass, time, people, etc.

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. Draw us back to you.

As we remember the mercy God showed us through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, a gratitude should be stirred in us, demonstrated by living a life of sacrifice to honor our Savior. Obeying God means following different rules than the world sets for us. This causes us to be set apart – holy. We are strangers in this world, citizens of heaven, not of earth. How often do we remember this? How readily do we stop our sinful, knee-jerk responses, remembering, “As a Christ follower, I should act in a way that represents Christ, not myself.”

Consider this analogy to the parent-child relationship: A child loves her parents and so entrusts her care to them. Because this child trusts them, she willingly obeys them. Likewise, we have God as our Father. In our love for him, we should demonstrate our trust by obeying him.

Through trust and obedience we can be set apart for God.