Called to be different

I have a Japanese friend who lives in Kobe, and he told me once about his coworkers approaching him about a trip to Thailand.

Basically, they were going there to hook up with prostitutes, and they were trying to convince him to come along.

He kept telling them no, but at first they thought he was just being polite. (It’s kind of typical for a Japanese person to refuse an offer several times before accepting). 

But they finally realized, “You’re serious.  You really don’t want to go?” 

And they were just totally shocked that he had no interest in going.

And that’s how the world often looks at us as Christians.  They sometimes think we’re weird because we don’t think the same way as they do.  Because we don’t have the same values.

But God has called us to be different.

He told the Israelites,

You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.  (Leviticus 18:3)

He then gave them the reason why in verses 24-28

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.

Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

But you must keep my decrees and my laws.

The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.

And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

By living their own way, the people defiled themselves and the land they were living on.

And so God warned them, if you follow these people in their practices, the same thing will happen to you.

The two main things God condemned here was sexual sin (incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery) and the killing of children in sacrifice to their gods, namely a god named Molech.

It’s amazing how little things have changed in 3000 years.  We still see the same kinds of sexual sin today.

And while we don’t see child sacrifice to idols, we do see millions of children sacrificed to the idol of selfishness in the form of abortion every year.

These things defile us and the countries we live in.

But not only do people do these things, they consider it “normal.”

Romans 1:32 rings especially true today.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

As Christians, we cannot follow our culture in these areas, nor in any area that contradicts God’s word.

Let us stay away from the things that would defile us.

Let us not just blend in with the darkness of the world around us, but like my friend, be a shining light in it.