November 11, 2018 - Inscriptions From The Heart

November 11, 2018
Paul Douglas Bennyson

SET APART

I remember the day Christ saved me. He had been speaking and whispering to my heart for a long time through family, friends and church. But I was too caught up with myself – too caught up in the pleasures of the world, too caught up in wanting to be noticed by the world. Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be different. I wanted people to like me. One of the things that came naturally to my thinking was to resemble a certain set of people to gain attention. So, I was mingling with crowds that were quite famous in the public eye. I was young then, so I did not even realize how much of circulating with people like this was affecting the way I lived. The way I spoke or communicated was influenced by the people I hung out with.

As a teenager profanity came very naturally to me. I was very creative in the way I used to frame sentences with my sense of humour. People loved it and I loved it as people loved me for my creativity. I had a profane mouth even after I got saved. I was involved in my home church with our creativity group, but I had the audacity to keep pursuing my lifestyle of profanity even inside my church walls. One day a thought just popped in my head. It was, “I do so many things like praise and worship God in my church and it’s the same mouth I’m using to talk to people outside.” This was clearly the Lord’s Spirit whispering to my heart questioning my lifestyle. I understood then that when the Lord saved me, not only did He redeem my life but also set me apart as His own.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 13-16 “13Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

Holy was a word that was set apart for God. I realized being a Christian and claiming to be a Christ follower I could not live a life like this. I needed a radical change that meant being different from the world. I have to be honest, I hated the idea initially. It was a struggle as I was so used to it. But the Holy Spirit inside of me impressed it harder on me that I had to change. And one night I went down on my knees and asked the Lord to refresh my speech so that it would be pleasing to Him. And the Holy Spirit miraculously changed my heart and helped me do so.

Your struggle might not be what I stated. But it can be other things which only you know of. Is the Good Lord whispering to your heart today on areas in life that you need to change? If you feel so ask the Holy Spirit for help and I’m sure He would come through to help you just like He did for me. And I pray alongside with you at this moment for strength to lay down pride and embrace Jesus.