What is the Set-Apart Walk?

What is the set-apart walk, and why are Christians supposed to walk it? Biblically, Christians are to be holy and living a righteous and holy life. OK? Still not very clear, huh? First, our “walk” is just how we’re living. Second, “holy” means to be set apart for a special purpose. Christians are set apart to love our Lord and live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. We are called to grow in Christ’s likeness and not adopt the world’s values, morality, and way of life as our own. Romans 12: 1-2 says,

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I know what you’re thinking. I’m saying you need to live in a one-room home with no electricity or running water. Most of your time is to be spent on hard, physical labor. And you can only read books for entertainment so long as these books are no more modern than 1950, of course! Yeah…no…. This is currently being written on my laptop while my two youngest children watch Frozen. A lot of a set-apart walk will be conviction. If my husband and I feel the Lord directing us to live a certain way, then we obey that. We believe that is part of us being set apart for God’s purposes. Other times, however, there isn’t a lot of gray area. For example, before a couple is married, they should not be physically intimate with each other. This is not at all how the world would counsel, but God is clear on the matter.

Maybe you aren’t sure if you’re living a set-apart life. Maybe you’re writing for your blog with a Disney movie playing in the background and your Amazon cart getting fuller by the minute. Just sayin’… Well, does your life look indistinguishable from most others’ lives? I knew of a very well-known man in a small town who passed away from cancer. He was loved by the community, and he truly made a mark on the many young lives in which he invested his time. When my husband asked our church members (who all knew him pretty well) if he had been a believer, they paused and said, “I think so.”

 I can’t comment on that man’s spiritual condition, but I can say that every Christian should live in a way that makes people know there’s something different. Some Christians are known for being forgiving. Others are known for their generosity. Some Christians are encouragers. No matter what you are known for, be known for being different. Be known for showing people Jesus in how you live.

Looking set apart is getting easier and easier, but choosing to be set apart is not. The world around us continues to darken and reject things of the Lord. If a Christian woman used the Bible as her guide in her daily choices, then she would be unlike most other women she knew. Seek being like Christ in your media choices, stance on abortion, approval/disapproval of various sexual lifestyles, which church you attend, the language you use, your manner of dress, your approach to dating, and where you and/or your children are educated. You’ll soon be quite different than the world around you if you follow God’s lead on just a few of those.

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This blog is not to condemn. I just want to encourage growth among others as I, too, have been encouraged. That said, I’m not one to walk on eggshells. So… There is a weakness among modern Christians to be led by faith in He who saved us. There is a severe lack of obedience to His Word. Though, certainly, we can assume some of what looks like disobedience is a lack of understanding. Our faith and obedience should naturally lead us to live counter-cultural lives. Of course, what that looks like would be different from person to person. I hope, though, that we are all able to find areas to grow and can do so confidently no matter how set apart our walk looks to others.

1 Peter 2:9-11 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which rage war against your soul.”