Now is separation difficult, or is it a pleasure? You know, a thousand lectures on separation would be nothing at all to the heart that does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. But really, talks on separation are not needed to the heart that really loves the Lord. I know that word “separation” sometimes makes people cringe a little bit. But you and I have seen thorough, complete, delighted separation, have we not? At each and every wedding that we attend, we see it afresh. We see that bride come up the aisle to join her arm with her waiting bridegroom. And what do we hear? Something like this: “Do you promise that, forsaking all others, you will cleave to him only, so long as you both shall live?” Does this involve separation? Yes. And is that separation difficult? It would be very difficult if there were not bonds of love to make it precious.
Dear saints of God, when I see the One who loved us unto death, and His purpose to have a bride to satisfy the yearnings of His loving heart, the church which is His body, He had every right to call us to separation. Moreover, beloved, because we belong to the One whom this world cast out and rejected, we should be thankful for the privilege of separation to Himself. A. C. Hayhoe