14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
The call to obedience for those “who are chosen . . . to obey Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:1b–2) is now given shape, first in the negative and then in the positive. Peter reprises Paul’s well-known call to the obedience of discipleship:
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1–2)
As believers in Christ, we should not act like we did in our pre-conversion days. God, to be sure, accepted us as we were, sinners without hope, dead in our trespasses and sins. But He did not accept us so that we would continue living as we did. To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus not only did not condemn her, but told her to stop sinning (John 8:11). So we too should stop living like we’re ignorant unbelievers.
Christianity cannot work only with injunctions of what not to do but is powered by the prospect of what we should do. We must establish new patterns and habits to replace the old patterns. But what do we aim for? Peter tells us to establish patterns consistent with the holiness of Christ. While we can never be as holy as Jesus Christ, we are to live holy because He is holy. That means we are to be like Him. The old saying is a good question to ask ourselves frequently: “What would Jesus do?”
What does it mean to live holy lives? It means to live separated from sin and sinful behaviors. We obviously cannot remove ourselves from the world, but we can dedicate ourselves to living for the Lord in everything we do and say. In Christ, we are growing in grace and mercy (1 Peter 1:2), have been born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3) and have received a guaranteed, eternal inheritance. We now have a new motivation, a new pattern of life to follow, that of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whose blood we have been sprinkled (1 Peter 1:2).
And holiness can apply—should apply—to all of our behavior. We have the example of perfection, which we pursue with the vigor of faith and hope, even though we will never fully attain it this side of glory.
Lord, help me as I strive for Your kind of holiness and not fall back to old ways.
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