Meet my friends. Black Cow and Black Cow. They live in the field behind us. As I walked the road they kept a close eye on me, watching my every move to see where I was going and what I was doing. I was curious about them too. When they wandered over to the fence, I kept thinking how much they looked alike. I really couldn’t find a distinguishing feature – something that set one apart from the other. They looked about the same age, they had the same build, obviously the same color, and I really thought if I saw them out in the field from a distance, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. But, I can tell you right now, there’s one person, or cowson, that could tell them apart and that would be their mothers. If their mothers saw them standing together at the salt lick, they would be able to tell which one belonged to them. They’d be able to tell by sight, smell, actions and instinctively know which cow belonged to them. To me they look exactly alike – four legs, two ears, same color, same walk, same actions, same moo…
It made me wonder…do I look like everybody else? Not do I have two legs and two ears, but am I the same as everyone else? Do I walk the same, do I act the same, do I say the same things? Can others tell me apart from others or do I look like every other two-legged, two-eared person? Do you hear what I’m saying? Can the world see a difference in me or do I look like the rest of the world?
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.
And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the LORD Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Brother Paul tells us here to separate ourselves from the world. Don’t look like others. Don’t talk like others. Don’t act like others. Paul’s not saying that believers are to insulate or isolate. He’s not saying don’t engage with the world. He’s saying get out there into the world but be different from it. He’s saying get out there in the world but don’t look like the world. There’s only one difference between all the black cows of the world…
One day Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”
The LORD replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”
Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”
Exodus 33:12-16
The difference between us all is our hearts. Moses said it – God’s presence among us sets us apart. God’s presence in our lives makes us distinct, different. We should not look like, act like, talk like, be like everyone else in the world if God’s presence is among us. If we do not have God’s presence in our hearts, we will look like the world. If we look like the world, God’s presence is not among us.
“Most people have heard about Jesus in our world. Our country was founded upon Christ and Christian values. The thing is, there’s a cognitive dissonance. They hear Christianity, and they’re seeing Christianity. It just looks like the world. It looks like everyone else except that you just slap a label on yourself,” Gokey shared. “People who not just talk about it, but live it sacrificially, they’re the ones that grab people’s attention. So we need Jesus people to do that.” Danny Gokey
Gokey is saying you can call yourself a Christian, but if you are not living like a Christian you look like every other black cow, there’s no set apart in that.
We are a chosen people, a people belonging to God. Do our lives look like we belong to God or do we look like every other two-legged, two-eared person? Do we act like chosen people, those set apart?
What does set apart look like in real life? How about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control? How about generosity, faith, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, grace, selflessness? All those things our Jesus lived out. All those things the world is diametrically opposed to. If the world is completely opposed to those things, when we practice them, people will see a difference. Unlike, those mother cows who were the only ones to be able to tell their babies apart, the world must be able to tell us apart. The world must be able to tell who the Jesus people are.