Called to Holiness
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:14 – 16
Have you ever considered what it means to be holy? We are clearly told in Scripture that our lives are to be holy because our God is holy. What does this mean?
Our society does not truly know what it means to be “holy.” They somehow believe that to be holy is to be weird or out of touch with reality. They equate being holy with being ‘holier than thou.’ But holiness is not about comparison with anyone else. Holiness is about being separate for God’s purposes.
Nelson’s Bible Dictionary defines holy in this way:
…moral and ethical wholeness or perfection; freedom from moral evil. Holiness is one of the essential elements of God’s nature required of His people. Holiness may also be rendered “sanctification” or “godliness.” The Hebrew word for “holy” denotes that which is “sanctified” or “set apart” for divine service.
I Peter 1:14 – 16 gives a good description of holiness. Here is a list of the words used to describe it:
Ø obedient children
Ø not conformed to lusts
Ø like God
Does this describe your life? It doesn’t describe mine very well either. There are many days that I am less than obedient to the will of my heavenly Father. He has set a standard that is clear, and I often fall far short of it.
There are also many days that my life is just as selfish and materialistic as any unbeliever. I want everything my way and now. But this is not what God has called my life to look like.
My life does not always look like God. But this is God’s desire for me. In nature God set up the sun, earth and moon so that the moon would reflect the light of the sun to the side of the earth that faces away from it. Likewise He has appointed us to reflect the light of His glory to an unbelieving world that has turned its back on Him.
How are we doing? Honestly, not very well. But there is hope – God is not finished yet. He is the God of many chances. God gave Abraham many chances to obey and follow. God forgave Moses when he acted out of his own anger instead of as the mouthpiece of God. David was an adulterer and murderer, but was still called “a man after God’s own heart.” Peter denied he even knew Jesus, but was established as a leader of the Apostles. Paul was a murderer and a terrorist, but still God called him to write almost half of the New Testament.
God does not discard us just because we have fallen. (If He were, none of us would have been picked up to begin with.) Take heart, God has chosen you as a messenger of His mercy. Each of us has fallen and each of us has areas of our lives which God is still in the process of sanctifying. We must not despair, but we must stop resisting Him. As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
God’s mercy is great.
His grace is amazing.
We must rest in Him while not treating His forgiveness flippantly.
