God told ancient Israel, “…I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 45 For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44-45). God called His people to be “holy” from the very beginning of time; that’s why our ancestors were expelled from the garden when they sinned.
Our creator has always intended us to follow His word so we can be like Him. Being made in His image means we can choose to be like Him, Genesis 1:26-27. If we do NOT “imitate” God, we are choosing to be unholy people! Many faithful examples before us show that being “holy” is not an impossible task (and Jesus is the ideal example!). God does not require something we cannot do, so we know that we CAN be the holy people He wants us to!
Holy means being “separated for God, to be like Him” (translators also use the word “sanctified,” which includes the idea of being cleansed). Second Corinthians 7:1 shows that Christians should cultivate this quality of God in our own lives, and Peter repeats what Moses said about holiness, applying it to Christians in 1 Peter 1:16. To be like God, we need to “…walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Sin “stains” us, but our Father calls for us to “disconnect” from it and be washed from it (2 Corinthians 6:17 & Ephesians 5:26-27). Being “holy” is a conscious choice, not an accident!
What sets “holy” people apart from others is that they consistently try to conquer the “little” challenges of life — not just the “big” ones (cf. Luke 16:10). Genuinely holy people encourage others to live the same kind of lives; Christians sometimes do bear heavy burdens, but also experience the great joy of sharing the eternal treasure of salvation with others. No other “treasure” can be so freely “spent” and yet continue to grow! Being truly holy people is what God wants for us; we please Him when we choose to be like Him!
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