Perhaps you asked Yahshua to be Lord of your life over 50 years ago, and have been traveling a journey with Him ever since. Perhaps you came to truly know Him only last week. Whenever it was that you met Yahshua, the Anointed One, the Messiah, and surrendered your life to Him, it was only step #1; the very beginning of the journey (the process of sanctification). This did not mean that we could just go on our merry way, living like we always had. Once we meet Yahshua our lives should be utterly transformed -- or we have not really met Him!
So, again, what does it mean to be sanctified and set apart from the world? I like Paul's definition in Ephesians 5:1: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Messiah loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." And in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, he is writing his letter to the ekklesia (assembly) in Thessalonica and praises them, "You became imitators of us and of Yahweh; in spite of severe suffering you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Ruach haKodesh."
Clearly we are called to imitate Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to live as Messiah did - a life that is based on pure love (of the Father and of one another) - and a willingness to endure suffering and persecution when the world rejects us. Messiah Himself called us to "Be perfect therefore as your Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48) and "Be merciful just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).
I know, I know. The reaction to these verses is always, "I can't be perfect! Only God is perfect!" Well, I heard a story on the radio yesterday that helped me understand this refining process we 
are called to go through. Oddly enough the story was about a creature I despise more than any other on the face of the earth: the mosquito! It was a fascinating scientific study about how the revolution cycles of the wings of the male are different than the revolution cycles of the female. You know that high-pitched hum you hear when the irritating insect is right near your ear? That hum is produced by the incredibly rapid moving of its wings, and on the musical scale it is said that the pitch of the male's tone is about a D, and the pitch of the female's about a G. In order for the male to get the attention of the female, he has to get his wing revolution up to a G to match hers. He has to imitate her sound, her pitch!
are called to go through. Oddly enough the story was about a creature I despise more than any other on the face of the earth: the mosquito! It was a fascinating scientific study about how the revolution cycles of the wings of the male are different than the revolution cycles of the female. You know that high-pitched hum you hear when the irritating insect is right near your ear? That hum is produced by the incredibly rapid moving of its wings, and on the musical scale it is said that the pitch of the male's tone is about a D, and the pitch of the female's about a G. In order for the male to get the attention of the female, he has to get his wing revolution up to a G to match hers. He has to imitate her sound, her pitch! I pondered this all day. It is what the above Scriptures are saying to us. Start living like Yahshua lived. In other words, study the Torah and resolve to begin keeping Almighty Yah's commands. Yahshua delivered the Torah to Israel on Mt. Sinai - and then He became the Incarnate Torah, that He might come down to the earth to teach the people how to live!
Let us be "imitators of God therefore, as dearly loved children." Let us endeavor to get our D tone up to His G tone! Raise the pitch! Raise the standard! Raise the sound! Hallelu-Yah!
