The Start of Something New

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3-4)

Whenever God does something new, he separates you.

This is how he kicks off the heavens and the earth: four days of separation. The first day, God separates the “light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4). The second day, he forms the heavens by separating the waters (Genesis 1:7). The third day, he separates the seas from the earth and makes dry land appear (Genesis 1:9-13). On the fourth day, he separates day and night with the sun and the stars (Genesis 1:14-19).

This is how God moves. 

When God wants to do something new, he takes you away from the old.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

God wants to bring another “Genesis” into your life. He sends his Spirit to hover over your heart, shine the light of Christ into the dark places, and prepare a bountiful garden for God-glorifying fruit.

But you have to clear out the old patterns of chaos standing in the way.

Just like day one, God wants to make you a light in this dark world. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). But you have to cast off the worldly habits that dim the shine of the Spirit in you.

Just like day two, God wants to reveal an expanse and raise you above the human plane. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1-2). But you have to reject earthly patterns of thinking that drag you down from a heavenly perspective.

Just like day three, God wants to make fresh land arise in your soul—room for a garden that will give life to the world. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). But you have to release and let recede the waters of the past to make way for future fruit.

Just like day four, God wants to separate day from night and teach you how to live all day in the light of communion. “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night …” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). But you have to “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). 

This is what it means to be “holy.” Holiness is separating ourselves afresh to God, so that he can bring out his creative life through us.

“And for their sake I consecrate myself (set myself apart as holy), that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:19)

The new life of your divine purpose awaits as long as you keep the old conception of what you thought life would be. But the moment you consecrate yourself, as Jesus did to his God-given purpose, the Creator sends swarming life through you.