James 1:21 – Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Today I would like to draw your attention to the words “lay apart” in the verse above.
An example would be a person who is about to sinfully indulge in eating too much pie but suddenly realizes what he is doing. So instead of diving into the extra piece of pie and eating it, he chooses instead to lay it back down on the table; then he deliberately shoves it away from himself lest he should overindulge one time too many! He lays it down, and he pushes it away. This is the idea James uses when he tells us to “lay apart” all filthiness in our lives. But there is another very important meaning to this word in the New Testament!
In New Testament times, “lay apart” was frequently used to describe someone taking off his dirty clothes at the end of the day. How do you deal with your dirty clothes at the end of the day? You take them off and put them away in the clothes hamper! Now James uses this illustration to explain how you must deal with wrong attitudes and actions in your own life. Just as you wouldn’t go to bed in dirty clothes at night, neither should you go to bed with wrong attitudes. You must deal with them like an old set of filthy clothes. You have to decide to get rid of those bad attitudes!
James 1:21 could be interpreted to mean: “You must make the choice to remove those filthy, stinking garments from your life, to permanently lay them down and then deliberately push them out of your range forever.…”
Also, it’s important to realize that dirty clothes don’t fall off your body by accident! To get them off, you have to push the buttons through the button holes, unzip the zipper, and slip the clothes off your arms and legs one piece at a time. Dirty clothes don’t automatically come off just because you realize they are dirty. They will only come off if you do something to remove them! This is exactly what James has in mind when he tells us to “lay apart” all filthiness from our lives.
Prayer: Lord, help me step out of the sins and bad attitudes that have held me captive for so long. Help me know the right steps to take to remove these destructive and unworthy things from my life. You want me to be free, and I desire to be free. With Your help, I know I can be permanently set free from these negative things, stepping out of them and pushing them so far away that I will never pick them up again! I pray this in Jesus’ name!