Separation from the ungodly world

(Octavius Winslow, "WORDS OF DIVINE COMFORT")

"Therefore, come out from them and separate
yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch
their filthy things, and I will welcome you." 2 Cor. 6:17

There is not a stronger mark of the Lord's people
than their 'separation'. They are . . .
  separated from the world,
  separated from their families,
  separated from their own righteousness, and
  often separated from the religious world.

They are a godly people whom the Lord has
set apart from all others, that He might set
them apart for Himself.

Now, it is this distinctive badge of 'separateness'
the Lord will have His saints retain in all their
Christian course. We are very apt to forget it. We . . .
  live in the world,
  mix with the world,
  hold transactions with the world, and,
  in some measure, are guided by the
  conventional habits of the world.

Still, we have need to be continually reminded
that, though living IN the world, and, of necessity,
compelled to conform to its proper and lawful
customs, we yet are not OF the world. "I have
chosen you OUT OF the world," says the unworldly,
loving Savior to His disciples; "therefore the world
hates you." "You are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world."
 
The religion of Christ teaches . . .
  crucifixion to the world,
  nonconformity to the world,
  spiritual and marked separation from . . .
     the world,
     its pleasures,
     its gaieties,
     its principles,
     its religion.

We are the professed disciples of an unearthly
Christ, the followers of an unworldly Savior.

O my soul! come away from an unclean and
defiling world. Lord! by Your cross may I be
crucified to the world, and the world to me!