READING: Leviticus 11-13
Are you holy? Am I holy? Are you striving to reach that goal? Am I?
The questions are perhaps repetitive, but they’re important ones. In today’s reading appears for the first time in the Bible a phrase that will appear multiple times again in the book of Leviticus: “be holy because I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). The reasons to be holy, to follow Him in His holiness, are stated clearly in the surrounding texts as well:
- God is God.
- God is the Lord.
- He is our Lord.
- He is holy.
- He rescues us from bondage, just as He rescued the Hebrews from Egypt.
I will say it again: God is a holy God. In the words of A. W. Tozer, He is "Himself the Holiness. He is the All-Holy, the Holy One; He is holiness itself, beyond the power of thought to grasp or of word to express, beyond the power of all praise.”* In fact, the apostle Peter refers to this call to holiness in 1 Peter 1:15-16, where he writes: “But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”
We are to be holy in all our conduct. That means our actions. Our thoughts. Our motives. Our attitudes. Our relationships. Our expenditures. Our plans. Our vacations. Our work. Our music. Our books. Our movies. Our choices. Our present. Our future. Our everything.
Our holiness is not optional; we are to be holy in all our conduct because God is holy. He who rescued us through the death of His Son has a right to demand that from us.
ACTION STEPS: Consider these steps today:
- Throughout the day, meditate on the holiness of God.
- Ask God to make you so sensitive to your sinfulness today that you quickly recognize and repent from sin in your life.
- Be holy, because He is holy.
PRAYER: “Father, make me holy. Show me clearly where I’m not there yet.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Leviticus 14-15
*Tozer, A. W. (2007-02-14). The Attributes of God Volume 1: A Journey into the Father's Heart (Kindle Locations 2066-2067). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
