You shall be holy

For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. - Leviticus 11v45

God's holiness is one thing. That makes sense. It is logical that God would be holy. Sin cannot be a part of His nature. In fact it cannot be any part of Him or He would not be God. God and holiness are synonymous.

But here we have a whole different matter. God tells His people to be holy based on His own holiness.

Whereas God's holiness makes sense my holiness really does not. How can I hope to be holy? I know me. I know my nature. I know my leanings and inclinations. I know my thoughts and my emotions. I know how I act left to my own

And yet God says be holy. He doesn't just say this to Israel; He repeats it to the church. So how do we do this? How do we be holy according to His standard?

First, at salvation we were declared holy with the holiness of Christ. Positionally we are holy in Him. What we are called to do is to practice holiness in our daily living. Our challenge is to live up to what we already are.

Our motivation to live holy lives cannot be to satisfy a list of rules and requirements. It can be to make someone happy with us. It can’t be for any reason but one – we are to be holy because He is holy!