Separation From
Separation From
The second phrase is “separation from.” There are many ways in which our Lord deliberately separated Himself from those around Him. We might say He separated Himself from people for people. Jesus did not separate Himself from people because He was weary of them, or because He disliked them. Rather, it was because He loved them. It was a separation in order that He might do for them what they could not do for themselves. He was the only One who could rescue them.
Throughout history there have been those who have separated themselves from people for other reasons. Tymen of Athens turned sour on the human race and went up into the hills. He separated himself from mankind because he hated the human race. But the separation of Jesus Christ from people was the result of love. He separated Himself from them for them. It was for them He came—and died. It was for them that He arose and ascended. For them He intercedes at the right hand of God.
“Separation from” is a phrase that marked Jesus. He not only kept Himself separated from sinners in the sense that He did not partake of their sins, but He was separated from the snare of trivialities. We Christians do so many things that are not really bad; they are just trivial. They are unworthy of us—much as if we discovered Albert Einstein cutting out paper dolls.
Our minds may not be among the six greatest of the ages, but like Einstein’s, our minds have endless capabilities. Our spirits were designed by God to communicate with Deity. Yet we consume our time in trivialities. Jesus was never so engaged. He escaped the snare of trivialities. He was separated from the vanities of the human race. Need I remind you in this context that if these words characterized Jesus, they must also characterize each of us who claims to be a follower of Jesus? The runner separates himself from street clothes in order to free himself for the race. The soldier separates himself from civilian garb in order to don equipment that helps his mission of combat. So we as God’s loving disciples must separate ourselves from everything that hinders our devotion to God.