Called By The Holy One

Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Being “called”, called by Jesus, what an incredible and terrible privilege that Peter is laying upon his readers and upon us.  We are being called by one who is ‘holy’.  How much more is added to the burden upon us by being called by someone who is ‘holy’?   It might be nice if it were just a phone call.  That would come to an end and we could…move on?  Or return to what we were?

It is a simple word, ‘called’, but it is uniquely powerful.  We carry on a legacy of those called by God, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, David, Isaiah, Esther…  A legacy of Peter, Mary the mother of Jesus, James, Mary Magdalene, all called to serve.

The individuals that God has called, the individuals that Jesus, also God, has called, when they are names in the Bible, how do we even think we can measure up?  Until we realize that those whom God has called are no different from us, fallible, broken human beings, just like us.

The key is that the one who is calling us is holy.  That does not mean we have an impossible standard to try and meet.  Because we won’t.  Simple as that.  The one who is calling us is holy, and by His Spirit, he will surround us with his Holiness.

That doesn’t make us super beings.  It doesn’t make us perfect.  But it does make us something more wonderful.  It makes us forgiven.