According to a humorous television commercial, one of the first signs of termite infection in your home is that “everything looks perfectly normal.” It is their way of convincing us that a lot of damage can be done before you even notice it. The ad might serve to remind us of problems that can occur in our spiritual house if we do not take protective measures. The very foundation can be destroyed while everything on the outside seems to be normal by the standards of our day. When our lives are comfortably blended into the society we live in, when there is nothing unusual about our moral or religious principles, when our priorities are the same as the great majority of our neighbors, then things are dangerously “normal.” The problem is that ”normal” is a term that is determined by man’s standards, and though measuring up to it may provide a degree of comfort here, it falls far short when it comes to laying up treasures in heaven.
Paul warned the Corinthians of some who For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise (II Corinthians 10:12) It is God’s yardstick that matters, not that of the main-stream of society. God has always required His people to be separate. Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, Be clean, You who bear the vessels of the Lord (Isaiah 52:11). Therefore Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you. “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (II Corinthians 6:17 – 7:1). It is not physically withdrawn, but distinct in conversation and conduct, not fashioned according to the world. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1, 2). It is a sobering Biblical truth that few will be saved; the majority will enter the broad way that leads to destruction. Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7: 13, 14). It is strange, then, that we should be satisfied with attaining a status accepted by society. What value is it, if we lose our souls?
Consider that if your life seems “normal” enough by man’s standards, it may be that your spiritual house is caving in. It will not be shored up by man’s money or man’s tools, but by the Word which framed the worlds. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household (Hebrews 11:3 – 6). The answer is some honest, objective study of it, for it is the standard which will judge us. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (John 12:48).