Be Holy

A good day to everyone! I hope and pray that the New Year continues to be one of Carpe Diem – of seizing the day and moment of God’s opportunities to live a life that is pleasing before Him.

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 1:13-25. This passage is loaded with so many exhorting, encouraging, and edifying words not least of which are the call to “be holy.” Most times when we have heard God telling us through His word that we are to “be holy, because I am holy” we shy away from whatever that might mean for us. After all, “nobody’s perfect”, right?

Obviously, God, the only absolutely holy, perfect, and good God, does not expect us to be absolutely “perfect” in our “performance” in our Christian living. That is, we will always live with “faults” and “shortcomings”. Only God is absolutely perfect. However, a deeper reflection on both the Old and New Testaments points us to a more achievable goal. “Holy” and “perfect” in Scripture can also be understood as “complete”, “mature”, “whole”, “undivided, or “entire”. And many times in the Old Testament these meanings of “holy” are attached to the idea of “heart”. In other words, what God is after in us is a “complete” and “undivided” heart and life that will yield a “complete” and “entire” devotion to Him; a “whole-hearted devotion”, if you will.

What does this mean? At the risk of oversimplifying God’s call for us to be holy, let me sum it up this way: To be “holy” is to strive to have a “whole-hearted” devotion and intention to being and doing the right thing before God. Our “whole-hearted” and “undivided” intent is to always do God’s will. Will we fail? Naturally, but that is not our intent.

To “perform” perfectly in our doing is important, but ultimately it’s not only about that. In fact, it goes deeper than that; it’s about a “perfect” (whole, complete, entire, undivided) heart, a whole-hearted devotion and intention to follow God’s ways.[1]

Holiness understood this way, then, is achievable. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed, lived, taught, and preached it. We would do well to reflect upon it – God will honor our faith as we seek to live with a whole-hearted and undivided devotion for His ways.

Prayer: Lord, the holy way is not easy, but it is not impossible either. Grant me the will and the whole-hearted devotion to seek Your ways in all that I am and do. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

By grace alone,
Pastor David

[1] This idea of “perfect performance” vs. “perfect” (complete, entire, undivided) heart was borrowed from John Oswalt’s book Called to Be Holy, which I highly recommend in order to have a more complete understanding of God’s call upon us to be holy.