Be Holy

The section of scripture we are looking at today is 1 Peter 1:13-2:3

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
²⁵     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Bible Understanding 101 suggests to us when the word "therefore" begins a section of scripture, it ties what was previously said to the things the writer is now saying.  So a look backward into the first verses in 1 Peter 1, introduces us to who we are in Jesus Christ, and establishes his authority in our hearts when we choose to belong to him. 

The lengthy text above is tied to those earlier thoughts and now encourages us to be a "holy" person through living a holy life.  Not sure about you, but as hard as I try, I have difficulty claiming that word holy as a description of me. 

Peter wants us to know about God who judges impartially, and about Jesus who paid for our redemption with his life, and this should bring us a strong faith and hope. Also, now that we have been cleansed through obedience, our delivered lives are to be lived in loving relationships with others.  We can love all people because we have been born again.  In these verses Peter wants to assure us we can be holy, because God is holy, and we can be forgiving and loving to each other because God has loved and forgiven us. That type of lifestyle is lived in "tasting the goodness of the Lord." 

<ronbwriting@yahoo.com>