-- Monday, 8/16/10 -- SET APART FOR GOD -- Judges 13:2-5

[J.R. & Bonnie Ricks]

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SET APART FOR GOD -- Judges 13:2-5 NIV

 

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless.  The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son.  Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean,  because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

 

Samson was to be a Nazirite, a man set apart for God.  The angel told his mother to "drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean."  Then when Samson was born, he was not to have his hair cut – ever.  He would be set apart for God from birth.  From the moment of conception, Samson was sanctified.

 

You and I are also sanctified.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are set apart for God's service.  We are not like other people.  We are different.  We are strangers, aliens in an evil world.  That's why when we speak about what God has done for us, most people think we're not operating on all cylinders, or they look at us like we have two heads.  But God has chosen you and me to be adopted into His holy family… and we’ve responded.  We have become His children… the sheep of His pasture.  That same “position” is available to everyone who will respond.  As Jesus said in John 6:40 (NIV), “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

Each and every one of us is precious in His sight.  His love for us is indescribable, incomprehensible, unconditional.  In response to that love, we are to demonstrate our love for Him… by acknowledging that we are set apart… by wholeheartedly participating in His service… by loving Him in return for His incredible love for us.  In gratitude and in humility, we are to accept the assignment he gives us and serve Him with all our hearts and with all our minds.

 

Meditate today on what it means to be set apart for God's service.  Think about what you can do each day to show Him – and the world - that you love Him.

 

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