Scripture uses more than one word to indicate the object or aim of our calling, but none more frequently than what Peter speaks of in our text: God has called us to be holy as He is holy. Paul addresses believers twice as �called to be saints [holy]� (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). �For God did not call us, � he says, �to be impure, but to live a holy life� (1 Thessalonians 4:7). When he writes, �The God of peace, sanctify you through and through,� he adds, �The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it� (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). The calling itself is spoken of as �a holy calling.� The eternal purpose, of which the calling is the outcome, is also continually connected with holiness as its aim. �He chose us in him � to be holy and blameless in his sight� (Ephesians 1:4), �From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit� (2 Thessalonians 2:13). �Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit� (1 Peter 1:2). The call is the unveiling of the purpose that the Father from eternity had set His heart upon: that we should be holy.
Without doubt, to know what God has called us to is of infinite importance. To misunderstand here could be fatal. You may have heard that God calls you to salvation or to happiness, to receive pardon or to obtain heaven. But have you ever noticed that all these were subordinate to His main purpose? It is to �salvation through sanctification�; to holiness first and foremost as the element in which salvation and heaven are to be found. The complaints of many Christians as to a lack of joy and strength, of failure and lack of growth, are due to the fact that they have not given holiness the place that God gives it.
No wonder Paul, when he spoke to the Ephesians about being �chosen to be holy�, prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God to be given to each believer that he might know the hope to which he has been called (Ephesians 1:17-18). Let all of us who now see to what we are called pray this prayer and ask God to show us that just as He who called us is holy, so we are to be also. Our calling before and above everything else, is to holiness. Let us ask Him to show us what holiness is: first His, and then ours; to show us how He has set His heart upon it as the one thing He wants to see in us: His own image and likeness. Oh, that God by His Spirit would teach all of us what this calling means! It is easy to conceive what an influence it would have.
�Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do� (1 Peter 1:15). This call of God shows us the true motive behind His command: �Be holy, because I am holy� (1 Peter 1:16). It is as if God said, �Holiness is my glory: without it you cannot see me or enjoy me; there is nothing higher to be had. I invite you to share my likeness.� Does this attract you and move you deeply � the hope of being partakers of His holiness? There is nothing better He could offer you. Shouldn�t we cry to God to show us the glory of His holiness, that our souls may be made willing to give everything to respond to this wonderful call?
His call also shows the nature of true holiness. To be holy is to be Godlike, to have a disposition, a will, a character like God. The thought almost looks like blasphemy, until we listen again: �He chose us in him � to be holy� (Ephesians 1:4). In Christ the holiness of God appeared in a human life, in His own life here on earth. We have the holiness of the Invisible One translated into the forms of human life and conduct. To be Christlike is to be Godlike; to be Christlike is to be holy as God is holy. |
