Derek Smith, Lead Pastor LHBC
Exodus 33:13-18
Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
Scripture teaches that when we trust in Christ we are set apart for His glory, however there are some real misconceptions as to what that means. I recently read a story about a Wisconsin mom who was trying to teach her kids how God sees them. She told them that when they receive Jesus as Savior that He then sees them clean and without sin. Actually, He sees them as saints. So she could call them Saint Sawyer or Saint Mylee or Saint Charlie. She kept this up all week, periodically calling them her little saints. Then, towards the end of the week, the family was going for a ride in the car when one of the sons proclaimed, “I don’t want to be a Saint; I’m a Packers fan!” I think He missed the point, don’t you?
Moses here reminds us of what this life in Christ is all about. He’s just come down from the mountain where He experienced God in unfathomable ways for 40 days only to find the Hebrew people worshipping a golden calf and engaging in all kinds of licentious behavior. In speaking with the Lord, Moses says that what separates us from the rest of the world…It’s not what we wear. It’s not how much money we have or don’t have. It’s not our athletic ability, or our academic intelligence. It’s not even how often we attend a worship service or a Bible study gathering. He asks how the world knows that the people of God are distinct from them. He then answers by saying it is the very Presence of God that makes us different. What makes us different is the very Presence of God, and the Presence of God in us is the Holy Spirit of God. When you confess Christ as Lord, Scripture says you are then born again of the Spirit, sealed in the Lord through Him. He is the guarantee, the deposit God makes in our soul as proof that we are saved and as evidence that He will take us home to be with Him when we die. We are told in Scripture to walk in the same Spirit by whom we are saved; this is the Christian life. Walking in the Spirit means to be filled and controlled by Him. The result is the nine-fold fruit of Him becoming evident in our life (Galatians 5:22-23); love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. What makes us distinct from the rest of lost society? Well, it’s God’s Presence with us, His Spirit in us and working through us.
As Moses concludes here, the resulting motivation for us when we turn to Christ is the glory of God. Moses cries out in desperation to see the glory of God displayed. God’s glory is His magnificent majesty, His unapproachable light, His indescribable beauty and holiness in contrast to our weakness and depravity. What makes us distinct is our driving passion to see God glorified in all we say and do and in the lives of those around us. Do we long for the glory of God above all else? Do we thirst for His Presence like the desert thirsts for the rain? Do we desire his name to be known more than our own? Today, do our lives look distinctly different from the world around us or do we just blend in to the rest of society. I challenge this day to live set apart. Let the Spirit of God shine through you in all you say and do today instead of just conforming to the crowd.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord, thank you for saving me. Your Word says that I am now set apart from your glory and purpose. Show me Your glory Lord. Teach me Your ways that I may bring honor to You. I want to live a live that is distinctly different for Your sake. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 119:18
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.