February 15, 2023: 1 Peter 1:14-16 - Be Holy, for I am Holy

“…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.’” - 1 Peter 1:14-16

As believers in Jesus as our Savior, we are called “children of God,” and as such, we should have a desire in our heart not to imitate the unbelieving world but to imitate Him:

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” (3 John 11)

When we make the decision to follow Christ, to believe in Him as the only One who can save us from all of our sins, we are instantly filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the things the Holy Spirit does within us is to help us become more like Christ if we allow Him to. However, sometimes we fight against the Holy Spirit because we love our sin and we don’t want to let go of it. I am guilty of this. Even the apostle Paul wrote about the battle within him in the book of Romans, saying that he knows what he is supposed to do according to the word of God but he doesn’t do it and instead, he does what the word of God says he is not supposed to do (see Romans 7:13-25). This is true for each and every single believer in Jesus Christ. The reason is that we still live in our fleshly, corrupted, and sinful bodies, and until we die and receive our new glorified bodies and are with Jesus, we will struggle with it. This is why we must put on the whole armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6:10-20, because Satan will do everything he can to make us abandon our faith, give up on Christ, and like a dog that returns to its own vomit, return to Satan.

God hates sin. Why? Because He knows the damage that it does to us - it kills us and assures our eternal destruction. That is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ to get us out of our sin and off the path that leads to death and destruction for eternity, the path that leads to eternal separation from Him. However, our salvation was not automatically given to us just by His coming; we must believe in Jesus as the only One who can save us from our sins.

Why does sin separate us from Him for eternity? Because in His heavenly kingdom, God, who is holy, cannot look on anyone who has sin. As the prophet Isaiah wrote of the coming kingdom:

“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness, The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up to it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Though the world may consider us fools for our belief in Christ, we are on the only way that leads to heaven. This is similar to the new heaven, new earth, and a new Jerusalem that the apostle John wrote about in the book of Revelation, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) John confirmed that only those who overcome their sin through faith in Jesus Christ will receive their inheritance, their entry into the eternal kingdom of God:

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:7-8)

“But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Revelation 21:27)

It has been said that “imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” Are we choosing to imitate a holy God or the world that is led by the prince of the power of the air - Satan? Do we want to please the One who Redeemed us from all our sins or the one who caused us to stumble and fall into sin in the first place? God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but He does expect us to desire to be more like Him and to actively fight against our desire to sin. He has given us the tools that we need to do that. If we don’t fight against our sin, then who are we really following? ✝️