Wholly Separated
Hello and welcome to Wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield, and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages. As we mentioned last week, today’s episode is going to be talking about what it means to be wholly separated from sin.
Now, this is tricky, becauseqq living in a fallen world - we’re not really ever able to be wholly separated from sin. Everywhere you turn, sin seems to be there. Even in the most sacred of spaces, sin seems to have crept its way inside. It’s in our churches and in our families; sin is in our own hearts and in the hearts of the people we love. Sin is running rampant in our nation, in our government, in the world…and we’re not surprised. The world is going to act like the world. But here’s where we have to be separate — we have to sanctify the Lord Jesus in our hearts and therefore, become separated from sin.
John put it this way in 1 John 2 - “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in this world, the lust of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world.”
So really, becoming wholly separated from sin starts with our desires. I cannot love the world. I cannot let my heart be drawn away and enticed by the world and then become so comfortable with it that I start partaking in it.
The Psalmist shows the progression in this way — “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…”
Did you notice what has happened in those verses? You’re blessed if you don’t walk near the sin, linger with it by standing close by, or just become fully comfortable with it and sit down and partake. That’s how it happens though. It’s not often just jumping headlong into sin. It slithers in like that ancient serpent.
Let’s look at an example from the Old Testament. In Genesis 13, God has blessed Abraham and Lot with many possessiåons and abundant riches. Because their herds and livestock are so numerous, they need to separate from one another. Abraham tells his nephew - you pick. Whichever side you want, I’ll take the other. And Genesis 13:11-12 says, “So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while lot settled among the cities of the valley and move his tent as far as Sodom.”
Now, we recognize this city as a buzzword. In not too many chapters, Sodom is going to be destroyed because of the rampant evil that is happening. But here’s Lot - moving in that direction. By the time we get to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot is actually living in town — not just living there, but is apparently a prominent member of their society because he sits at the gate with them and his daughters are even engaged to be married to some of the residents.
How did it all begin? By looking in that direction, then moving in that direction, and finally just letting himself be absorbed into it.
Now, Lot didn’t get involved in all of the evil that was happening — but there are going to be lasting consequences for the choice he made. Apparently some of the evil that was happening in Sodom ended up in the hearts of his daughters, who do unspeakable things with him not long after the destruction. And thus, a line of people are born that ultimately become the enemies of God’s people.
So let’s allow Lot and his family to become a warning for us. We must be in the world, sure, but we cannot be like the world. Romans 12:2 renders it this way: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may be able to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Do not let yourself conform to the world you live in. Do not let it take up space in your heart even though you have to take up space in this world. Do not allow the culture to dictate your actions or your ideologies, allow God to transform your heart and your mind. Allow God to dictate what you do and what you love and how you act and how you think.
How are we doing on this?
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, garbage in garbage out. If we are putting junk in, junk is likely to come out. If I fill my listening with words that are ugly or coarse or rude or off color, chances are those words might slip out when I am angry or frustrated.
Let me tell you about my middle school self. She was a lot, so be thankful you didn’t know her. But, I will tell you, my little 7th grade self was sporty. I played every single sport that was available to me. As such, I traveled on a school bus back and forth to games. And as was custom in that time, we had these ancient contraptions called portable CD players — and you always brought whatever mix tape you had illegally downloaded from Limewire. I know, I know, the nostalgia is hitting you.
Anyway, here’s a vivid memory I have from those days. I remember how much I liked a certain rap artist. Everybody on the team did. My coach used it as warm up/hype music. Everybody listened to it. Everybody knew all the words. Me, too. And, unsurprisingly, not all of those words were good. I didn’t even understand what some of the words meant. But I am someone who immediately learns lyrics to songs - and so having them on repeat? They were putting down roots in my heart.
So one day, we’re playing in a championship for our basketball team. And it was not going well. I was SO frustrated, that at half time in the locker room, I exploded with a curse word.
Every single person in that locker room turned and looked at me stunned, because I had never used language like that. And I was immediately feeling regret - which is probably why this memory is so vivid for me. I remember being so disappointed in myself. But you know what I learned? I learned that if I didn’t have those words in my heart they wouldn’t slip out when I was frustrated.
While that was an example from many many years ago, the same is true for the things I put into my heart today. The lyrics I listen to, the books I read, the social media I listen to, the TV shows I watch — all of these things are getting into my heart and either drawing me closer to Jesus or desensitizing me to sin.
The Bible is pretty clear about what we’re supposed to be doing with our hearts: guarding them. By allowing myself to listen to or watch or read things that are against what God wants for His children, I’m afraid I’m acting a little more like Lot than I’d like to admit. Maybe I don’t say the things or do the things, but I’m slowly moving my tent. And one day, maybe I won’t be the one who falls into the temptations to sin — the Bible does call him “righteous Lot” in 2 Peter 2:7 after all. But didn’t it have a tremendous effect on his family? Didn’t it have disastrous impacts on his wife and daughters?
If I want to be wholly separated from sin, it starts by examining what I love. Where do I put my focus? Where do I spend a lot of my time and attention? What kinds of things do I love that would make me blush if Jesus confronted me while I was reading it or watching it or listening to it?
Being wholly separated from sin means daily examination. This world that we live in - there’s so much sin, too much sin. It’s everywhere. It’s worse than I think I even realized. The world is filled with so much evil and the devil is roaming about like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. He wants us to lose with him. He wants us to fall into our weakness. He wants us to choose sin - to choose self - to choose what’s easy. Sin is easy. Separation is hard.
So how can I do this? How can I get a grip on being wholly separated from sin?
I think it begins by spending more time focused on Jesus. Isn’t that where most things begin? But really and truly - the more I think of my Lord being nailed to a cross - being sacrificed as a sin offering for my sins - the more I hate sin and want nothing to do with it. When I think about the fact that the sin that I think is so entertaining is what caused my Lord to be brutally murdered — I am less entertained by it. So I have to make myself spend more looking at my Lord - thinking on His sacrifice. Is it any wonder that God has baked into our week a reminder - communion - on Sundays when we gather to worship?
Let’s make ourselves focus, every day, on what sin truly costs. It cost Jesus everything. But He was willing to pay that price for me to be separated from sin. He was wiling to go through that torture if it meant removing me from sin’s chokehold. I must remember so that I don’t walk right back to it just because it’s convenient or appealing for a moment or the popular thing. I must remember Jesus on the cross and let that repulsive, bloody scene shape my thinking about sin and how repulsive it truly is.
And please, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that only certain sins - big sins - are gross. That only certain things are detestable. Yes, those things we often call “big” sins are, in fact, sins. And they damage a lot of things. But all sin separates us from God. Any and every sin breaks our relationship with our holy God. We cannot hate certain sins but overlook others. We cannot hate other people’s sins but excuse our own. We cannot hate sin in theory but refuse to actually examine our lives and rid our hearts of the lingering sin that’s hanging on for dear life.
We must - MUST - be wholly separated from sin. We have to hate it. We have to want it as far from us as possible.
And you know what the most beautiful thing in the world is? When we belong to Jesus - when we have submitted to Jesus and been washed in His blood - that blood continues cleansing us every single moment of every single day. As we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. As we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus continually wipes us clean and makes us stand purified before our Father.
We aren’t ever going to be perfect - but we can strive to live faithfully. And when we stumble into sin, we can know we will be cleansed. And knowing that Jesus’ blood is what was required to cleanse us, we will choose to hate that sin and continually repent of those sins and turn in a new direction.
I’m thankful that even though this world is covered up in sin and engrossed in sin and, quite frankly, just downright loves to be involved in sin — that I don’t have to fall into that trap. I don’t have to stay enslaved to sin. I have been set free, and I can be wholly separated from it and its consequences. Thanks be to God that He has separated me from sin. I am so unworthy of the blood that He cleansed me with, but I’m so grateful - and I will continually walk away from sin….and then probably stumble back into some form of it - and then turn away and walk toward Jesus again..and then stumble and fall, and then allow Jesus to pick me up and keep me pressing toward the goal…the goal of running into His arms one day.
I want to be separated from sin, and I really believe that’s where it all begins. Making my heart long for separation from sin — because I know what sin does. I know what sin did to Jesus. I know I don’t want any part of that.
Well that’s gonna do it for today’s episode. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope that you’ll join me next week as we talk about a similar topic to this weeks - what it means to be wholly invested, looking at 1 Peter 4. Thanks again for listening and until next time remember, love God love your husband.
