WE ARE CALLED TO BE HOLY

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”  (1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV)

Although our God is caring and compassionate, holiness cannot tolerate wrongdoing and evil. They simply cannot coexist. God’s indignation at evil is consuming and complete.

God’s anger with us is assuaged in Christ Jesus, yet we still are called to be holy because God is holy.

Is there anything in your life, past or present, that cannot dwell alongside God’s holiness? Is there anything for which you need to ask forgiveness?

As an act of confession, list your wrongdoings. Confess them to the Lord who “protects those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7).  Roll up that piece of paper, and throw it away or burn it. Experience the joy that comes from letting God cleanse you from all your sin.  

-- From “The Meeting God Bible (NRSV): Growing in Intimacy with God Through Scripture” 

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RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL

“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time -- to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.”  (1 Timothy 1:9 NLT)

Years ago a colleague in Ontario recounted an interesting experience with a fax.  Members of his church who were living in Australia sent him a fax.  He read it, and then noticed the date of the fax transmission. It was dated and sent the day after he received it -- because of Australia's time zone.  He dubbed the letter his "fax from the future".

God is calling to you from the future and into the future with increasing persuasiveness.  God is sending you "future messages" about what it means to be a child of God, to be a disciple of Jesus, to live a holy life.

None of us can manage, control or manipulate the future.  However, God calls you and then guides you toward the call.  God is always ahead of you, inviting you toward a richer life in Christ. 

-- from the church bulletin of Christ Church United, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 

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INFLUENCING OTHERS

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  (1Peter 1:15-16 ESV)

Influence grows out of worship. Without that preoccupation, we have nothing to give a cynical, desperately unhappy, and unsettled world.

In 1966, during the closing service of the World Congress on Evangelism in the Kongresshalle in Berlin, Germany, Billy Graham spoke of the need for “a gentleness and a kindness and a love and a forgiveness and a compassion” that will mark us as different from the world. “We must be a holy people,” he said.

As an illustration of the power of personal holiness, he spoke of the conversion of Dr. H. C. Morrison, founder of Asbury Theological Seminary. He described a day many years before when Morrison, as a farm worker, was plowing in a field. Looking down the road, he saw an old Methodist circuit rider coming by on his horse.

Morrison had seen the elderly gentleman before and he knew him to be a gracious, godly man. As he watched the old saint go by Morrison felt the power of God’s presence, and a great sense of conviction of sin came over him. He dropped to his knees. And there, between the furrows in his field, alone, he gave his life to God.

When he concluded the story, Billy Graham earnestly prayed, “Oh, God, make me a holy man, a holy man.” 

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”

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THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

"Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy."  (Leviticus 19:2b)

Holiness is a dull word these days, conjuring up images of fusty, finger-wagging prigs, who are good in the worst sense of the word, men and women with sullen, morose faces, full of rectitude and rigid duty, "on hold for the next life," as a Washington Post writer once put it.

True holiness, however, is anything but dull.  It is startling and arresting.  It's more than being decent, good, ethical, and upright.  It has that aspect the Bible calls, "the beauty of holiness."  It is what Paul has in mind when he calls on us to "adorn the gospel" (Titus 2:10).

Likewise, Peter writes, "Live such good lives among unbelievers that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (1 Peter 2:12).  The word, here twice-translated "good," means "something beautiful to see."

This is the picture of holiness James draws for us, a portrayal that fascinates us and awakens us to the hope that we can be more than we ever hoped to be; that we too can live lives of uncommon beauty and grace.  It can happen as we humbly receive it.  "The LORD…will beautify the humble," Israel's poet assures us (Psalm 149:4).

This is also the picture of holiness that can fascinate our unbelieving friends and awaken in them the hope that there may, after all, be something more. 

-- David Roper in “Growing Slowly Wise” 

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