Thursday, January 19, 2006
1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore . . . as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
HOLY
There is a second admonition that follows the "therefore" in First Peter 1:13. This second admonition is a call to obedience as God's holy children. You see, when God calls us by the Gospel to faith in His Son, He makes us members of His holy family; yes, He makes us citizens of heaven, part of the community of saints.
The people in the world can be expected to live lives of ungodliness, satisfying their worldly lusts, cheating, swearing, cursing, hating, hurting, stealing, and committing sexual sin. But God has made us His holy children; how can we live like the world? God wants us to be different now. He has called us out of the world to be His children. It is totally out of place for us, therefore, to hurt one of our fellow-believers, to cheat on our tax returns, to go shoplifting in the mall, to take delight in filthy humor, or simply to stop trying to do our work to the best of our ability. Of course, we are not trying to earn our way to heaven by our good behavior. That is impossible. But we are trying to please our Lord and Savior who has won heaven for us and has promised it to us as a free gift. Out of love for Him and out of appreciation for what He has done for us, we want to live our lives in this sinful world "as obedient children."
The standard for our behavior is God's holiness. God is holy; He wants us to be holy. His holiness is pure, perfect, without a flaw. We are perfectly holy, too, through the perfect righteousness of Christ that is counted as ours. But our daily lives are to be holy also; the standard is God's holiness. We know our sinful flesh hinders this holy life; we fall far short of God's standard. But the standard never changes. We should never settle for something less, but always strive for the high standard that God has set.
So let us gird up our loins and walk the Christian walk, because of what Christ has done for us. Let us walk the Christian walk, always setting our hope fully on the salvation our Lord has won for us.
