Bible Thought: Holiness

What do you do every morning before you head out the door? And, let’s not talk about how long it takes! You do it all because it’s important, right? You want to look different than when you first woke up. Living for Jesus every day takes discipline and effort too. What are some necessary things God wants you to take with you every day? Living for Jesus every day is a discipline. It’s not about what other people are doing. It’s about what God wants to do through you.

1 Peter 1:13-25 NLT
A Call to Holy Living

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say, 

“People are like grass;
   their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
    But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

1 Peter 2:21-25 NLT

He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.
He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.

How can we try to be more like Jesus and live how God wants us to?