Daily Devotional by Max Lucado, Jan 16th

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado “the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”   January 16 Set Apart   Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God's enemy. James 4:4 (NCV)   John the Baptist would never get hired today. No church would touch him. He was a public relations disaster. He "wore clothes made from camel's hair, had a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey" (Mark 1:6). Who would want to look at a guy like that every Sunday? His message was as rough as his dress: a no-nonsense, bare-fisted challenge to repent because God was on his way. John the Baptist set himself apart for one task, to be a voice of Christ. Everything about John centered on his purpose. His dress. His diet. His actions. His demands. You don't have to be like the world to have an impact on the world. You don't have to be like the crowd to change the crowd. You don't have to lower yourself down to their level to lift them up to your level. Holiness doesn't seek to be odd. Holiness seeks to be like God.     From: A Gentle Thunder Copyright (Word Publishing, 1995) Max Lucado