Feb. 25
SET APART
"Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord" Isa. 61:6
This literal promise to Israel belongs spiritually to the seed
after the Spirit, namely, to all believers. If we live up to our
privileges, we shall live unto God so clearly and distinctly, that men
shall see that we are set apart for holy service, and shall name us
the priests of the Lord. We may work, or trade, as others do, and yet
we may be solely and wholly the ministering servants of God. Our one
occupation shall be to present the perpetual sacrifice of prayer, and
praise, and testimony, and self-consecration, to the living God by
Jesus Christ.
This being our one aim, we may leave distracting concerns to those
who have no higher calling. "Let the dead bury their dead." It is
written, "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of
the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers." They may
manage politics, puzzle out financial problems, discuss science, and
settle the last new quibbles of criticism; but we will give ourselves
unto such service as becomes those who, like the Lord Jesus, are
ordained to a perpetual priesthood.
Accepting this honorable promise as involving a sacred duty, let us
put on the vestments of holiness, and minister before the Lord all day
long.