Generally speaking, I like reading out of the NIV, but today I happened to read out of the New King James, and two words jumped out at me. “Get out!” Somehow, it sounds much stronger than “Go from” (NIV) or “Leave” (NLT) or even “Go forth (NASB). It just seems like there is more urgency when you say it that way.
Why did God tell Abram to get out from his country, his family, and his father’s house? Probably because these things were having a bad influence on him. The culture they were living in wasn’t honoring God, and it was having an effect on Abram’s family, as they were serving false gods along with the one true God. (Joshua 24:2) Already, Abram’s and his wife Sarai’s way of thinking had been affected as you could see from some questionable decisions they made even after deciding to follow God. So God said “Get out.”
What is influencing us? What is shaping the way we think or act? Is it our culture? Is it our friends? Is it our family? God tells us the same thing. Get out from under the influence of a world that would shape our minds and our lives in a way displeasing to him.
In Romans 12:2, the apostle Paul wrote, “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.” (NIV)
All around us, there are pressures trying to influence us. Some of them even have benign intentions. But benign or not, they can take us away from God and his way of thinking if we’re not careful. And if there are people or things in our lives that are shaping us in a way that pulls us away from God, God calls us to get out from under their influence. It doesn’t mean necessarily that we need to cut them off. But when we need to pour out our problems, when we’re seeking advice, we need to do so with people whose values come from God. Too often, we seek comfort and advice from people whose values come from the world, and though they may care for us, they’re still leading us away from God and the life he has for us.
“Go ahead and date that guy. I know he’s not a Christian, but I’m sure things will be okay. Maybe he’ll even become a Christian later.”
“Go ahead and sleep with your boyfriend. You love him right?”
“Go ahead and marry that woman. It doesn’t really matter that she’s not a Christian. You love her right?”
“Go ahead and divorce your husband already. He’s making your life miserable, right?”
“Go ahead and take the job. So what if it means you have to work Sundays and can’t go to church anymore. God will understand.”
“It’s okay if you offer incense at the Buddhist funeral. You don’t really mean anything by it, right?”
All of the advice is well meant. But all of it is wrong. And if we are under the influence of these people, it will lead us away from God.
So what does God say?
17 “Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”18 And,
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (NIV)
Again, this doesn’t mean you have to cut these people out of your lives. But it does mean that you need to take yourself out from under their influence.
Do you want to know God’s will in your life? Do you want to live a life pleasing to him? Then let his Word be the transforming influence in your life. Make sure that the advice you get comes from people who also have made the word of God the transforming influence in their lives. If you do, you’ll find his good, pleasing, and perfect will, and a life as sons and daughters to a Father who loves us more than any other.
Moment to moment 