“and you shall be holy to Me, for I, the LORD, am holy and have set you apart from the nations to become Mine.” Leviticus 20:26

The Call To Be Like God

Holy – When we shift our attention from the first occurrence of “holy” in this verse to the second, the verb remains the same but the implication changes dramatically.  I am called to become holy.  God is holy.  The gap between those two places is the gap between the finite and the infinite.

God is holy.  He does not suffer from the imperfections, sins and rebellion that characterize my life.  His very existence calls me to a standard of obedience that is far beyond me.  But the good news is that because God is holy, I can rely completely on Him to bring about the holiness He asks of me.  A holy God is an absolutely faithful God.  A holy God never lies to me.  A holy God has only my best interests within His purposes in mind for me.  If God were like me, I could not have this kind of confidence.  But God is not like me.  His holiness is the seal of my confidence.

So even though God’s holiness sets the standard that exposes my failures, I know that He will complete the process of bringing me in line with His character as long as I am in submission to Him.  That is what is happening in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  God is at work bringing about His holiness for me through Jesus.

This fact is crucial for me.  If God called me to holiness but left it up to me, I would be condemned to a life of frustration.  I can see what should be done but I soon discover that in my own strength, I just can’t do it.  But this verse comforts me.  God says He has set me apart.  He says I belong to Him.  And if the God of the Universe is intimately involved in the process of my holiness, I can be assured that He will bring it to pass.  It’s not sanctification by will power.  It’s sanctification by utter submission.

Do you feel the call to be like God?  Is there a hunger for righteousness welling up within you?  Have you discovered that the battle is not yours alone to be won?  Are you ready to have your entire life transformed, separated and consecrated by setting aside who you were in order to become who you are?