Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Holiness

READ: 1 Peter 1:13-16

BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.

The command seems so lofty. 

Me, holy? No one is righteous, not even one. I confess I am a sinner. I live by grace. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. I am unholy, sold as a slave to sin, but his grace abounds.

Now that sounds a little more like the Christians I know. 

But let us consider what the Bible says about this lofty holiness. 

The prophecy: “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27)

Christ’s promise: “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

Prophecy and promise fulfilled: “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.” (Romans 8:9)

Result: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

Therefore, we are not a defeated people, powerless against our base and sinful desires, but we who have received the Holy Spirit are a redeemed and victorious people fully capable of fulfilling the command to be holy as God is holy.

Yes, we are saved by grace, but saved for a purpose: to replicate his holiness.