I Am Set Apart

Have you ever felt like you were set to the side and forgotten about? Have you felt like an outcast or that people look at you differently? Well, you’re not alone. I’ve felt that way since I can remember, and it still happens.

My church held a two-day youth conference and there were hundreds of teenagers there. During worship the first morning, I felt God say,” Move to the side of the stage.” Keep in mind, all the teenagers were in front of the stage in the middle and only a few were on the sides. I moved to the right side of the stage and I began to hear God so clearly. He told me,”You were set apart, never set aside.” That hit home on one of the deepest levels because that meant I wasn’t an outcast. That meant He made me to be different, but I didn’t have to be different alone. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) As Christians we are called to be set apart, and that means your steps won’t look the same as someone else’s because you are on a different path. “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 12:2)

A couple things I took out of this moment were that God has set you apart from the beginning, and it’s a blessing not to look like everyone else. Also, when you allow yourself to be moved into the place God has made for you apart from the world, that is when you will hear Him more clearly than ever before. Secrets can’t be shared when there is a lot of noise around, it has to be still and quiet. It’s the same concept with God. If we are still and listening, we will get to know the secrets of His Heart.

This reminded me of the countless times in Exodus that God called Moses up to the top of Mt. Sinai to instruct him what to tell the Israelites. Moses led them out of Egypt. Moses received the Ten Commandments directly from God. Moses was given the very specific instructions, down to the very last detail, of how God wanted the Tabernacle built. Moses didn’t look like the rest of the Israelites. His life looked different, and that’s because God had set him apart from the rest.

In Genesis, God told Noah to build an Ark with very specific, very big, measurements. He told him to put animals in the big boat along with his family. I bet he got some very funny looks from the people around him, but God didn’t ask Noah to look like the rest of the world or he would've gotten swept up in the flood waters too.

God didn’t stop there, He set you apart too.

"I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations." -Jeremiah 1:5

You can’t change the world if you look like it. God set a purpose inside of you, show the world who God made you to be!

“There is something wonderfully sacred that happens when a girl chooses to realize that being set aside is actually God’s call for her to be set apart.” -Lysa TerKeurst