Set Apart

For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself.  I promised you as a pure bride to one husband -- Christ.  (2 Corinthians 11:2 NLT)

  A favorite pastime at my home in Colorado was to sit on the deck and watch the clouds slowly drift across the mountains.  One day a male mule deer came down the hill to a bush at the corner of my driveway.  I watched him shake the bush with his antlers and then lift his leg and make his mark.  He was staking his claim and saying to all other male deer, "Stay clear, this is my territory."

   Sixty years ago I staked my claim on Elaine Almgren by putting a ring on her finger.  That ring said to all other males, hands off, this person is set apart solely for me.  Do you know that God does the same to all who come to him by faith?  Pay close attention to what God says in Romans 1:1, "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."  Did you see those words set apart?  God wants you and me for himself.  He has claimed us as his very own children.

   What God wants more than anything else is a love relationship with his children.  That's why he had set us apart and given us to his son, Jesus Christ, for a bride.  Are you one of his set apart ones?