God's instructions to mankind are pure and holy! Yet, the history of mankind shows us that man is not content with what God desires. Rather, we, in arrogance, seem to think we know how to improve on those instructions. Paul, understanding our penchant for joining the unholy with the holy wrote this:
2 Corinithians 6:14-7:1 (KJV)
14 Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Traditionally, this passage of Scripture has been used to encourage our sons and daughters into marrying other like-minded believers. This is an appropriate use of this Scripture, but too often, it stops there and we don't see the significance of this advise in all areas of our lives.
We need only to look at the form of Christianity that exists today to see that we have lost sight of Paul's advice. Some of the most glaring examples are the celebration of Christmas and Easter. Both holidays originally were pagan holidays. Somehow our ancestors believed that we could Christianize those pagan holidays and make them acceptable to both the nominal believers coming out of paganism and God. According to 2 Corinthians, they had no business doing this. Besides, we are left today, in the church, with traditions that are pagan in nature and many may not even realize it. Do we continue this fraud? Do we continue to disobey God by combining the holy with the pagan? If we truly are God's, let's leave the pagan behind and commit to God's ways. Let's make our children's traditions pure and holy by celebrating those holidays that God commanded in Leviticus 23.
Another example is the switching of the Sabbath to Sunday. Again, it was our ancestors who wanted to distance themselves from anything Jewish and began worshiping on a day that was not commanded by God, but by pagans. Over time, without the Bible's influence, work became acceptable to do seven days a week. Let's return to God's ways and restore the holy and leave the pagan behind!
Then what about music and various activities that Christians participate in? These areas may be somewhat more complicated since God has not defined in His Word, all the situations that can arise. But in all things we should remember to keep our actions holy! We should examine what we do and insist that the pagan or unholy should be kept out of our lives. Much of the music that is used in the Christian church today is appalling. Somehow it is believed that by taking a worldly type of music that comes from a depraved origin and mixing it with holy lyrics makes the music holy. It does not. Music is powerful and just like the written word, can cause emotional responses that are inappropriate. 2 Corinithians says to come out from among them and be separate. Why should a church service sound like a rock concert? Again, let's examine everything that we do with the lens of Scripture. We are witnesses to those around us. We were meant to be different. We were meant to be holy as God is holy!
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