. . . separated to the gospel of God. . . —Romans 1:1
Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be
proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that
the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality
is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is
redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the
Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the
revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an
effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in
human goodness we will go under when testing comes.
Paul did not say that he separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me . . .” (Galatians 1:15).
Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our
eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get
close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because
they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to
know God. “Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of
redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today;
what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in
my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel
of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in
that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own
character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly
abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to
proclaim the gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).
