Holiness

“…be holy, for I am holy.”

                                                               1 Peter 1:16

I know what you’re thinking.  Seriously? Are you kidding me right now?  Here we go.  This devotion was probably written by someone who thinks they have it all together and trying to be perfect so now they want to saddle me with crazy, fanatical, unrealistic do’s and don’ts no one can achieve except Jesus.

I can assure you that is not the case.   I have definitely not arrived!  I am on a continuous journey of discovery of asking, seeking, and knocking.  And, day by day I receive, find, and have doors opened to me. Just as the Word of God says I would.  I am simply inviting you to come along for the ride.  That’s all.

Back when Moses was God’s mouthpiece, and he was relaying to the children of Israel diet guidelines (Leviticus 11:44,45) and moral and ceremonial obligations (Leviticus 19:2).  He told the people to be holy as God is holy. I imagine it may have sounded almost as impossible to them as it does to us.  God was calling the Israelites to be a people separated unto Him.  He required of them to eat, wash themselves, and live differently than the surrounding nations. 

When Peter quotes God as relayed by Moses (1 Peter 1:16), he is reminding the Christians of that day, as well as us, that we too are to be set apart for God’s service, which is in fact what the word holy means.  In Peter’s day and ours this call to holiness takes on a spiritual context.  God isn’t trying to strip us of the things that we enjoy.  He is calling us to newness of life.  He is calling us to be who He created us to be as new creations in Him.  He is now calling us to renewed minds that hunger and thirst for righteousness and not the lusts of the flesh that this world offers up daily.  He wants us to be set apart in how we conduct our lives.  He would never ask us to do something that He wouldn’t or couldn’t equip us to do.  At salvation, we are given grace… a gift that keeps on giving in that after covering past sins it strengthens our ability to say no to future sin if we choose to accept it and let it work in our lives.  Because of our flesh we could never do it on our own so He sent us a Helper…the Holy Spirit, who helps us stay on the right path when we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

When we operate out of a mind that is constantly undergoing renewal than we won’t yield ourselves to the lusts of the flesh but to the things of the Spirit.  This keeps us separate from the world and on the path to true holiness.  Separate in agenda and purpose only but not in location because light is needed to dispel darkness and as new creations we are the source of that light.  Remember, this doesn’t mean that we are perfect according to what man would call perfect, but we are kept on a path of faith filled learning.  We may not always get it right but because we are striving towards God’s idea of perfection by walking in love and fighting the good fight of faith, even our missteps will lead back to Him and His abundant grace and mercy.

Be blessed!