God has set us apart and has good reasons for doing so. He says: 1 Cor 15:33 Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character. Of course He has other reasons as well; what took me the longest to understand was that from the moment I was saved, I became "holy", consecrated to God, just like the temple was in the old testament or the priests or the vessels used in the temple or the Ark of the covenant itself. Here is what God says about that: Exodus 30:26-29 Then use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. Leviticus 20:7-8 “ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited. I know we don't "feel" holy, or at least I don't, but that doesn't change the facts that God says that I am holy now and that He expects me to act that way. I looked up a few terms just to see what they said and when we apply them to ourselves, it's really eye opening:
The Holy Spirit writes these verses to us about being holy: 2 Cor 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Heb 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Do you remember what God told people would happen if a non-consecrated person were to touch the Ark of the Covenant? Even accidentally or in an effort to protect it? No matter what the "reason" was, God said that person would die because they had simply touched something that He said was Holy, consecrated etc. 2 Sam 6:6-7 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
That to me again shows just how dead serious God is about this. God tells us over and over that He has separated us from the world and He expects us to stay that way. We are not only to not participate in things that are sinful, we are not even to be nearby--we are not to give anyone even the impression that we might or could be doing something sinful! 1 Thess 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. He explains another reason for that here: 1 Cor 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Now if He would kill 3000 people for idolatry, if He would kill Uzzah for attempting to save the Ark even though He wasn't supposed to touch it as He wasn't consecrated, how much more so does it anger Him when we who ARE consecrated by Him, made Holy, by Him, take and use our Holy and very sacred temples in ways that are obviously sinful? For example, would we swear standing face to face with God? If we were standing face to face with God, would we invite Him to sit down with us and watch a show that was full of foul language and promiscuity? Or would we sit down with our Lord and read a book that was all about someone who used magic, sorcery, or one filled with all kinds of sexual immorality like homosexuality and sex outside of marriage ? I seriously doubt it! Yet every single time we use foul language, every time we watch that kind of TV program, movie, or read that kind of book, etc. we ARE doing it WITH GOD! Every time we gossip, every time we tell someone to go to Hell, every time we put our wants or needs above another person's, or when we tell a crude joke or laugh at one, we are doing those things with God standing right there with us! God dwells within us! We ARE making ourselves unclean and angering Him. We are, to put it quite bluntly, grieving the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. We should thank the Lord that He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve! (Psalm 103:10) Then we should repent and do all we can with the Lord's help to act the way the Lord sees us, as Holy, and set apart for Him.
Those are things that God will in fact discipline us for, just as we would discipline our children for doing something we told them not to do. Discipline is never fun. We need to truly repent and ask the Lord to help us to stop from that behavior and remember that we are His children and ambassadors to others on this earth. The unsaved are watching us. so our attitude should always be the same as that of our Lord Jesus. (Phil 2:3-4).
