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Have
you ever thought about how negative the word "separation" is? We
hear of families where the parents have "separated." Children
have been "separated" from siblings. We can’t pray in school
or display the Nativity scene in front of the courthouse because of
separation of church and state. Just saying the word brings images of
something being torn apart, something that brings great pain. It paints a
picture of someone standing alone, isolated. And too many times that
someone is a woman.
So, imagine my surprise when I was reading from my Bible
this morning. I had just turned on my computer for the day and had
snuggled down in my office chair (trust me – it’s big enough and
comfortable enough to snuggle down in it). I decided that since it had
been a while since I had read it clear through from front cover to back, I
would dig out my "Read Your Bible in a Year" chart while I was
waiting to check my email. So naturally, I opened up to Genesis (can’t
put anything past me!)
Now, not everyone may have read the Bible from cover to
cover, but I am confident in saying that everyone has at one time or other
read Genesis One. (I can remember my Grandfather telling me that his
father learned to read from the Bible…starting with that very first
chapter.)
Other ministers have taught from it. I’ve taught from
it myself. I figured I had seen most everything that God had put in there.
But what I hadn’t seen before was that God was responsible for the very
first "separation" – and He did it for a reason. A very good
reason!
Genesis
1:3-4 "Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And
God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the
darkness."
I had always read these verses and envisioned a physical
creation. And so it was. But as I read it this morning I began to see it
in a different light (pun intended).
Now might be a good time to let you
know something about myself. Some women say they can’t run a home without
duct tape. I can’t run my home without God’s Word, the Strong’s
Concordance, and spray paint – in that order!]
Strong’s says that the word light
also means "the light of life." The word darkness means
"obscure" (gloomy, devious, lonesome),
So let’s put those definitions back into
the verses: "Then God said, ‘Let there be the light of life," and
there was the light of life. And God saw that the light of life was
good; and God separated the light of life from the
gloomy, the devious, the lonesome."
As
I thought about what God was wanting me to see here, He reminded me of
Matthew 5:14 "You (that would be me and you) are the light of the
world."
God took you and me, His light in the world, and
separated us from the darkness. Not torn apart to bring pain or isolation,
but to sanctify us! To keep us pure and holy, as He is pure and holy. To
bring us Life and to keep us away from those things that are gloomy, and
devious, and lonesome.
Women: the gloomy, the devious, the lonesome –
that’s the world! The world would tell us that it can offer us
happiness, give us a purpose. The world would tell us that we have failed
if we stay at home and raise a family. The world would tell us that if we
aren’t a part of the "system," we’re separated!
Yet, look at 2 Corinthians 6:16-17
"…For we are the temple of the living God….Therefore, come out from
their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is
unclean; and I will welcome you."
It is only when we are separated from the world that we
become a temple that God can welcome and use as a light. It is that
separation that brings us purpose. It is that separation that brings us
Life!
If you’re
experiencing separation today, if you have been torn apart and left alone
– don’t despair. Allow God to separate you from the world, those things
that you thought would bring you happiness and a purpose, but have left
you isolated. Allow Him to change that separation of pain into separation
of Life! Now your light can shine.
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