Separated

Ezekiel 42-43; Psalm 119:1-32; Proverbs 28:14

I like things organized, properly set in their places. Some things just aren’t meant to go together—suits and screen-printed t-shirts, paper plates and crystal glasses, plastic jewelry and diamond-studded bracelets. Some items are for special occasions, and some are for… not-so-special occasions.

Ezekiel, describing the vision God gave him of a new temple in Jerusalem, writes this:

So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
– Ezekiel 42:20

God has a way of organizing the world. And He tells us that His design for His temple is to “separate the holy from the common.”

We who have been ransomed, forgiven, redeemed, regenerated, saved and sanctified by Jesus Christ are now God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17). And what God intends is for His temple to be the site of holiness. Having been made God’s people, we are no longer to go on thinking, dreaming, envisioning, feeling, enjoying and acting in the ways common to this world. We have been separated from them—not by a wall, but by Jesus’ cross. Let’s live like people who have the mark of Jesus’ cross.

Father, make and keep me holy.