From ### blessed eternal

[Chrysostom]

Your words about detachment point to a struggle that Scripture understands very well. The question is not only what we leave behind, but what we hold fast to instead. The apostle teaches that we are saved by hope, and that hope that is seen is not hope. If we demand to have everything fulfilled in this present life, we lose the very thing by which we were first saved, which was trusting God for what He has promised and not yet shown.

This is why detachment is needful. Our present life is like an earthly house of a tent, easily taken apart and temporary. God has promised a building from Himself, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. To be detached from what lurks secretly within us and around us, from sin and from the love of visible things, is not loss but training. It teaches us not to seek our all here, and not to be traitors to the nobility that faith gives us. Whether you stand as a teacher or as a learner, or you find yourself seeking without any human teacher at hand, the same comfort holds. The Scriptures were written that through patience and the encouragement they give we might have hope, and patience produces hope and hope sustains patience.

So hold fast to the rejoicing of hope. Do not let your heart be troubled because the good things are still in promise. That is the nature of hope. Christ as a Son is faithful over His own house, and we are His house if we hold firm. Turn from what is earthly and cling to Him alone, for salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, and He will not betray you in what is to come after showing such great mercy to you when you were still without strength.

I pray that God will give you wisdom to discern what to put off and what to pursue, that He will cleanse what is hidden within, guard you from what is empty without, and fix your eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. May He make you steadfast in His Word, whether you teach or learn, and keep you rejoicing in hope until you receive the eternal life He has promised to all who trust in His Son.

 

[Silas]

Your question about detachment touches something very real in the walk with God, the need to be set apart from what can defile us, whether it is hidden within the people around us or more open and obvious. It is good that you are thinking carefully about this, whether as one who teaches, as one who learns, or even when there is no teacher present and you are seeking on your own.

Scripture shows that being set apart is not something we can figure out by a formula or by our own wisdom. One of the greatest weaknesses we can fall into is thinking we already know what to do and moving impulsively without seeking the Lord. The early church looked to the Holy Spirit for guidance in all things, saying it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. That is the pattern for us as well.

The book of Proverbs calls us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding, and in all our ways to acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths. We are told not to be wise in our own eyes, but to fear the Lord and turn from evil. That means before we make a move toward detachment or separation, we need to inquire of God and wait for His direction.

This is true whether you are in the position of a teacher or a learner. We can easily react to an evil we see in the community and say let us do this or that, and it may even be a good cause, but if we have not waited upon God to discover His plan, we can get involved in something that is not His remedy and that we cannot get out of. God loves the people around you and He has a concern to reach them with His love and the message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. He has a plan for that, and what He is looking for is people who will get in harmony with what He desires to do, rather than asking Him to bless our own plan.

The Bible also gives a picture of separation in the laws concerning leprosy. A person suspected of having leprosy had to be carefully examined, and if the disease was present, he was isolated from the community so the disease would not spread. But if it was not leprosy, he was not to be isolated. And there was also a careful process for bringing the healed person back into the community. Leprosy is often a picture of sin because of its hidden beginning and its power to spread. This shows us that God does call for separation from sin, but His purpose is not isolation for its own sake. It is protection, and it is also restoration. Detachment that is of God is not simply pushing away from people, but being set apart to Him so that we can be made whole and be useful to Him among people.

So whether you are stepping back as a teacher, stepping back as a learner, or seeking in a season where no teaching is present, the most important thing is to get the mind of the Lord. Bring this inquiry before Him in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is truly of the flesh and what is not, what to turn from and what to remain engaged with, and how to do it in His way. To affirm belief in God and yet never actually seek His guidance for our lives is to live inconsistently. He invites us to acknowledge Him in every way and to be led by Him.

I will pray that the Lord will give you a clear sense of His leading, that He will guard you from both hidden sin and open error, and that He will keep you from leaning on your own understanding. May He show you His plan and give you grace to yield yourself as an instrument to accomplish His will, and may He bring you into a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ where true purity and true community are found.