Living in Holiness
1 Peter 1:13-25
When you think of the word holy, what thought comes to mind? Most think of God, the Bible, and perhaps a godly person who helped shape their faith. But do you think of yourself as holy? Many believers run from terms such as holy and holiness in describing themselves. We’ll say we’re good people, or we’re trying our best, or we’re better than we used to be, etc. But we have a difficult time saying we’re holy, or that we’re striving for holiness. Yet Scripture teaches just the opposite. God’s Word tells us that we are a holy (i.e., set apart) people (see Ephesians 1:4) and that we are called to live holy. All of us should strive to be holy, as Peter explains in 1 Peter 1:13-21.
After describing the wonderful riches that believers have received by God’s mercy (1 Peter 1:3-12), Peter turns to how believers should behave in response. Simply put, your new status with God and the promises He gives us about eternal life should produce transformed lives in the present. Peter stresses in 1 Peter 1:15 that God, the one who has called us, is a holy God, totally separated from sin. And since we are called his children (1:14), we should imitate God’s holiness. We certainly cannot be perfectly holy as God is, but we should always seek to imitate our Heavenly Father. Ephesians 5:1 commands believers to be imitators of God, which is the proper conduct of His children.
There’s another reason why we should strive to live holy, and that is because God will judge our actions (1:17). God will judge unbelievers based on their rejection of Christ, but God will judge believers based on how they live (see 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Even more so, believers should strive for holiness because they have been purchased by God expressly for the purpose of living godly lives (1:18-21). We were ransomed from the old life so that we could bear fruit for God and we are new creatures created for good works (Ephesians 2:10).
Finally, believers should strive for holiness because we’ve been purified from sin. When we obeyed the gospel (believed and trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross), we were cleansed and became new creatures. And since we have been purified and cleansed by His blood, why would we return to the filthiness of sin?
Since you have a holy God who has become your Father through the atoning, cleansing sacrifice of Jesus, shouldn’t your aspiration be to imitate God’s holiness? This week, know that you are holy, and strive to live holy.
Sands– Lessons in the ETB series for the fall quarter are being written by Alex Sands, pastor of Kingdom Life Christian Center, Greenville.