A Call to Holy Living

I read these verses this morning. This past year and a half God has really been teaching me what it means to 'be holy b/c HE is holy.' We actually went through this very topic recently in my Bible 9 class. God is calling us out as believers! Calling us to be set apart. What does this mean? Does it mean a list of rules... 'do this, dont do this?' NO! It means to follow/obey God with all of our heart, b/c we are in awe of who HE is and incredibly thankful for what he has done for us! HOW can we do this thing that we have been called to? ONLY WITH THE HOLY SPIRITS HELP! We cant do it on our own! All of our efforts of righteousness is as 'filthy rags!' Only by God's grace and the Holy Spirit working in us can we do ANYTHING pure! That doesn't mean we don't have to 'work' at being Holy, but it means that as we are 'doing' the right thing, we need to be walking in the Spirit and NOT relying on ourselves.

Holy Spirit, help me to live what you have called me to in purity and obedience. Help me to honor my Lord and Savior, my God in ALL I say and do. The only holiness I have comes with your help!

I Peter 1:13-22 *NLT*
So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ. Obey God because you are his children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God--who chose you to be his children--is holy. For he himself has said, "You must be holy because I am holy."
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth. For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God. Now you can have sincere love for each other as brothers and sisters because you were cleansed from your sins when you accepted the truth of the Good News. So see to it that you really do love each other intensely with all your hearts.