As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct.   1 Peter 14-16 HCSB

A couple weeks ago, our Sunday School lesson was on the word holy as it is used in the Bible. God is holy. He is set apart, there is none other like Him. There is no one or no being that can compare to God. He is omnipresent, He is everywhere at once and always there for us (Proverbs 15:3). He is omniscient, He knows all and sees all (1 John 3:20).  He is omnipotent, He is all powerful, there is nothing that is impossible for Him (Jeremiah 32:17). There is nothing that can compare to God.

This is why idolatry is something that we must be very careful to avoid. Idolatry can come in all forms. We can worship the opinions of others to the point where we find ourselves disappointing God. We can put work, hobbies, and relationships in first place. We must always put God first, others second and ourselves last.

God is holy and He calls us to Him and wants us to be holy as well. We are to be set apart. We are to humbly stand out from the crowd. I don’t mean that we are to beat on our chests and say, “Look at me! Look at me!” But I mean that people are to notice something different about us. Anyone can melt into the crowd and go along to get along, but this is not what God calls us to do. God calls us to be that light for those that are lost. Others should observe us and see Christ in us. We should do our absolute best to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1).

In order for us to be holy, we must submit to God and His holiness. We must fear God and by this I mean we must have this reverential awe of Him. We must worship Him, praise Him, and put Him above all others. When He calls us into a new life with Him, we must guard against the devil’s tactics. The devil will try to convince us that we can still fit in with the crowd. We can still do what everyone else does and it will be okay. But, it’s not okay. Many times I asked my parents to buy me things just because everyone else had one or asked them to let me do the things that everyone else was doing. Their standard response was, “If everyone jumped off a bridge would you have to do that too?” Our flesh wants us to be like everyone else. It wants us to do what they do and behave as they behave, but this goes against what God wants for us. God wants us to be set apart. He wants us to live holy lives. He wants us to be a beacon for those who are lost in darkness.

I want you to do a little self check here, are you holy? If someone were looking for light in a dark world, would you shine out for them? Would they see something different in you? Would they see you living your life in a way that honored God? Would they hear different words coming out of your mouth than those they hear when they are listening to the foul language of others? Do you just melt in with all the others around you.

We all know that when God calls us to Him and we accept Christ as our savior that we need to do the essentials like pray, study our Bible and attend church. But, do these things impact how you live your day to day life? Have they made a difference in how you speak and how you treat others? I’m going to let you in on a little secret that I learned about four years ago. When we treat others, especially our enemies, as the Bible tells us to treat them, it makes a world of difference for us. We have unending joy (Isaiah 51:11). We have this peace that people can’t comprehend (Philippians 4:7).

We see these bumper stickers and t-shirts that tell us that black lives matter and blue lives matter and they do because in God’s eyes all lives matter. God wants each and everyone of us to spend eternity in heaven with Him. But, we must choose to do so. It begins by practicing here on earth. We praise God, we honor Him with how we live our lives. We live holy lives that are set apart.

I spent years being afraid to let go of my sin and live for God, but boy when I did, God showed me His awesome knowledge. He knows what my future holds and He holds my future. That works out very well for me. He showed me His awesome presence. I never have to fear because He is always with me. He showed me His awesome power. Things that I thought could never work out for my good, did! He worked all things out for my good and His glory!

He wants to do the same for you. Won’t you surrender all to Him and give Him the chance to do the same in your life?

Have a great day!