BE YE HOLY

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."  (1 Peter 1:13-16).

We often interpret this call to holiness as a commandment.  "You must be holy because I am!"  I see it as more of an invitation to excellence, however.  "Come, you are now able to be holy, because I am holy!"  It is because Christ has overcome that we can be overcomers.  It is because Christ is risen from the dead that we can know resurrection life.  He is the reason why we can be loving, patient, joyful, peaceful, gentle, wise, virtuous, kind, or temperate.  None of these things grow naturally in us.  We must be tapped into the Vine from which comes all of the life-giving nutrients necessary to promote spiritual fruit in our lives.

I believe that the operative phrase in the text quoted above is, "the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  Grace is, of course, the unmerited favor of God toward man.  It is the blotting out of past sins.  It is the justification of sinners and their reconciliation to God.  Yes, it is all these things; but, it is also the ability of God to transform our very nature and change us into His likeness.  It is the power to realize the very thing that God has called us for: to become fully mature sons of God.  He is preparing us to inhabit eternity, Beloved.  He is going to create  a new heaven and a new earth for us after the old ones are destroyed.  Does it seem reasonable that He would populate that brave new world with those who are still slaves to their sins?  Christ came not just to provide the atonement for our sins, but deliverance from them altogether.  God must have a holy people or else they will corrupt the new world the same as they have the old.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship, calls it "cheap grace" that does not bring a man into obedience to God's righteousness.  He says, "Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."  

How is this life-changing grace brought to us?  By the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As God reveals to us the nature of His Son, then we see the areas of our life that are unlike Him.  Our response is to repent (agree with God, acknowledge our sin, and turn away from it), and then trust God to transform us through the power of the risen Lord.  One of the clearest indicators that we are not trusting God is if there is sin in our life.  This is because faith is the victory that overcomes the world.  If we are unable to let go of our sin, it is because we do not believe that Christ has made us more than conquerors in this world.

So, our text tells us to "gird up the loins of your mind," or as the NIV says, "Prepare your minds for action."  This is a very descriptive phrase that refers to the long robes that people wore in the Middle East and Asia.  When they prepared to run, or to do some task, they would tuck their robes into their girdles to free their legs up so as to not be hindered in their movement.  This is the mindset that we must arm ourselves with.  We must not let the wrong type of thinking hinder our progress in Christ.  Along the same lines we must also "be sober, and hope to the end."

Our text goes on to say, "as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance."  This is obviously a call for a change in our behavior.  We are to become obedient to this revelation of Jesus Christ and not conform ourselves to the things that once brought us shame before God.  We can, instead, now be a holy people because He that has called us is holy.  Because all fullness dwells in Christ, we can now be fulfilled and complete in Him.  (Colossians 2:6-10).  Praise the Lord! 

"Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.  Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee.  Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto Thee daily."  (Psalm 86:1-3).