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“Holiness” typically in our sinful world has a negative connotation in daily life. Those who act morally superior than others are taunted as having a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Except for religious leaders, people do not normally admire others as a “holy person”. God, however, calls all Christians to be holy: “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” (1 Pet 1:15)

I wonder what strikes us when we hear God’s call to be holy. Do we imagine a list of dos and don’ts or God frowning at “unholy behaviour”? More than 200 years ago, an English poet William Blake wrote a poem called “The Garden of Love”. The poem described the church as such: “And the gates of this Chapel were shut, and ‘Thou shalt not’ writ on the door.” The poem suggested that the church shut people out with a burdensome list of don’ts. It implied that in order to become a Chrisan, a person had to keep all of God’s commandments. Sadly, like William Blake, many people today still believe that God and the church are killjoys. They think that holiness means doing all the right things and keeping all the right rules.

The Bible tells us what holiness really is. Holiness is a result of Jesus’ death that saved us and not our good works. The Apostle Peter reminds us that we “were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [our] forefathers…with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:18-19). GRACE is God’sRiches At Christ’s Expense. “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2: 8-9).

We must be careful not to get it the wrong way around. We are called to be holy because we are God’s children – not in order to become God’s children. Our hearts and minds are changed when we “call on Him as Father” (1 Pet 1:17). Then, we will want to obey our Father’s call to be holy. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the well-known Chrisan author: it is safe to tell God’s children to be holy, for only God’s children will want to. God’s grace made us holy and will keep us holy until Jesus Christ comes again.

‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far,
and Grace will lead me home.