Lisa joined our family at the age of 14. Everything was new and different for her, and even though those differences were good, they were still foreign to what she had known before. Somehow we needed to find a way to ease Lisa into our family.
Our lifestyle is even farther removed from God’s than Lisa’s was from ours. In ourselves, we have nothing in common with Him. Just as we “called” Lisa to join in our family, to participate in being one with us, God invites us to share in His own divine nature as He lovingly adopts us into His family.
I Peter 1:15 states: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” Many see this verse as a command. Personally, I see it as a wonderful invitation—a call to reflect the nature and character of the One who has chosen us to be His own. He has called us to be His child, and now He calls us to live in a way that reflects His family and His lifestyle.
God is holy, and we’re not. It’s that simple. God calls us to a lifestyle that is unfamiliar to us – one that can only be learned in His presence. We never would have expected Lisa to learn the rules and standards of our home apart from living with us. We didn’t say, “This is how we live, and when you get it right, then we’ll claim you as ours.” However, the longer Lisa lived with us, the more she became like us. The more she identified with our family, the more she reflected our standards. But most importantly, the more she understood our love for her, the greater desire she had to please us and become one with us.
The parallels are obvious. We are called to be holy and the more time we spend in God’s presence, the more we’ll learn to be like Him and to reflect His standard of holiness. This call to holiness echoes throughout the pages of Scripture. It was His call to Abraham. It was His call to the nation of Israel. It was His call to the fledgling church. And it is His call to us today. May our prayer be that of the songwriter: “I long, oh, I long to be holy. Conformed to His will and His word. I want to be gentle and Christlike. I want to be just like my Lord.”
(From the hymn, I Want To Be Holy, by Dr. A. B. Simpson)
Follow