Countdown to Christmas – Day 14

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

Most assuredly, Mary, at a tender age on the cusp of womanhood, wouldn’t have been able to fathom the depth of her obedience. And most assuredly Mary, betrothed as she was, wavered between emotions of nervousness and excitement at the future before her. Never touched by a man, her body and her heart were set apart for God’s greatest purpose and plan.

And she was chosen to be the one used to fulfill His plan because God knew the condition of her soul and that it would withstand the testing it would endure. Mary was set apart from the world making her holy and pleasing to God.

It is easy to identify many in history who have left a legacy one would consider to be holy. And perhaps there are many who one might consider to be holy… but truly aren’t in the eyes of heaven. It is easy for us to confuse goodness with godliness. The truth is that to be holy is to be set apart for God- only God– and His purposes… not our own.

But it takes God to actually be set apart for God. To be holy and set apart for God is a life-long process called transformation. From the moment we accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, submitting our lives to Him in obedience, the Holy Spirit begins to transform our mind, heart, and soul. We simply cannot fathom the depth of our obedience and how Christ will use us to be light in a dark, spiritually dampened world.

The patterns of this world are just that: cycling patterns. We are doomed to repeat ourselves over and over again for the enemy of our souls desires to conform us. But God does not do things the world’s way but His own way. Let us be encouraged when we look and seem different to those who know us for that is God at work perfecting His good and pleasing will.

Father, renew my mind and test my heart so I may be set apart from this world. Perfect your will in my life making my good works pleasing in your eyes. In Jesus name, amen.