Lavish the World with Truth

January 20

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace be multiplied," 1 Peter 1:1-2

It is the life that is obedient to God and separated from the world that provides the proof of one's conversion. If the Christian is legally cleared of guilt before God and obedient to Him, he no longer "belongs" to the world; the Bible no longer perceives such a person as being "in the flesh."

Philippians 3:20 offers understanding of another separation from the world: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." His spiritual separation produces for the Christian a legal transfer of citizenship that he must recognize.

Colossians 1:12-13 confirms this: "Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."

As a result of these separations, the Christian must live his life as a stranger and pilgrim as if in a foreign land, obeying the laws of his new nation by placing higher priority in his activities as a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

This opens the door to another line of practical thought, conduct, and attitude: "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself the enemy of God" (James 4:4).

We normally do whatever we can to avoid our enemies, even to the point of fleeing from them if necessary. This reality should help us to understand why God commands us:

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? . . . Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." (II Corinthians 6:14, 17)

It is by means of conduct motivated by the Holy Spirit that we are to come out from among unbelievers and be separate. We cannot—we must not—straddle the fence; we cannot serve two masters. Once we are called, we must serve God, or we will have received God's grace in vain (II Corinthians 6:1). — John W. Ritenbaugh



Our brother has pointed out an obvious truth, that being: we who cannot save ourselves have been abundantly saved and set free from the clutches of the devil who would, if he could, ensnare us into every manner of sin. Jesus is the way out of the quagmire of evil that engulfs the world around us. Jesus is the One who empowers us to separate ourselves from the deceit of sin and the stumbling block of riches.

We who love and trust Him must affirm the words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 2:3, “How can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” We must implore ourselves and those whose lives touch ours to understand the truth of II Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold today is the day of salvation.”

“At an hour when we think not, the Son of Man will come,” Luke 12:40, so we must be diligent to receive and to share the grace that has set us free; we must be diligent to proclaim the name of the Lord! May we live and declare His truth and salvation, may we, “shout it from the housetops,” Matthew 10:27, Luke 12:3.

Even as we are separate from the world, may we lavish the world with the truth that saves and frees from sin every man who will trust Jesus as his Savior and Lord, for it is the will of God that “none should perish, that all should have everlasting life,” II Peter 3:9.