In our last post, Peter told us about our great salvation. In this post we’ll look at verses 13 thru 16 and see how our lives should be holy in light of that great truth about our holy salvation in this post:be holy for God is holy.
Verse 13
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Therefores are extremely important as it is in this verse. Peter gave us in verses 10-12 the why. Now he is going to give us the how. The first thing he says is to prepare our minds. The literal Greek is “gird the loins of your mind.” This basically means to be prepared. Next, he tells us to keep sober. This has to do with keeping one’s mind focused. We are to keep our minds fixed on the hope of our salvation: Jesus Christ.
Verse 14
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions jof your former ignorance”
In this verse, Peter tells us to be like children. Wait, isn’t that kind of derogatory? Not really, Jesus told the disciples to be like children in their obedience. We need to be like children and just do what the Bible commands. To not be conformed to what we were before. How many times in the past did we disobey our parents and then come to regret it? Likewise with God, we are not living holy when we do this, but rather like our old selves.
Verse 15
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct”
Peter says that living according to former lusts is not how we were called to live. The Holy One (God) called us to live holy in all behavior. We are to become holy: not in just in one part of our life. God does not want us to just live holy in one area and neglect the other parts. More on what that looks like later, at this point Peter is giving us the how. In verse 16 he goes into the why.
Verse 16
“since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Why are we to live holy? Not only because of our salvation, but because God is holy. Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44. Holiness is one of the essential qualities of our life. It should be the governing factor of our lives. It is what the Old Testament law was rooted in. To be holy like God is holy.
Now what?
This is a series to prepare us to live during persecution. How does this passage help? Well, it means not compromising our holiness for comfort. When we are faced with a decision, (Like bribing someone to save our lives) we need to live holy. We are not to do the unholy thing. But outside of persecution this is rather convicting. Every part of our lives needs to be holy. God doesn’t want us to be doing “good” deeds and then on the side be looking at porn. God does not want us to be happy in church, but then get angry in traffic. Our whole lives are to be conformed to God.
Next week we shall look at the value of our salvation.
For more information about what holiness is, go here: http://www.gotquestions.org/holiness-Bible.html