As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in
your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all
your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (I Peter 1:14-16).
Holiness has almost become a bad word among many Christians in our time. This is usually because it is associated with movements and teachings that are legalistic in their approach to holiness. Even so, not only is holiness fundamental to true Christianity, we are exhorted in Hebrews 12:14: "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." Sanctification is a word that is often interchangeable with holiness, which means to be set apart, purified, etc. As this Scripture declares, we must be holy if we expect to see the Lord.
Recent studies indicate that there is no longer a measurable difference between the morality of those who claim to be born again Christians and non-Christians. Christians are now sliding into debauchery so fast that soon Christians will, when measured as a whole, be less moral, and have less integrity than unbelievers! What is even more shocking is that there are not alarms being sounded from every pulpit and meeting place in the land!
There are now grounds to justify calling Christians hypocrites. A hypocrite is someone who claims to believe or do one thing, but does another. Let us also not forget that Jesus Himself reserved His most fierce denunciations for hypocrites. If we are going to church and claiming to be Christians, but are doing the things that we know the Scriptures condemn, we are the ones that He was talking about. We are the ones who are bringing shame to His most glorious name.
However, the Lord is full of grace and mercy to those who humble themselves and repent of their iniquity. Even when King Ahab, one of Israel's most evil and idolatrous kings, repented near the end of his life, the Lord immediately responded to him with mercy (see I Kings 21:20-29). If we have been caught in the snares of evil, we must run to the Lord, not away from Him. He will have mercy and help us.
The Holy Spirit, who is the personification of the holiness of God by His very name, is also the Helper. God does not require us to do anything that He will not also empower us to do by His Holy Spirit. However, we must understand that this is His name for a reason. If we want the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we too must be holy.
The true key to living a holy life is not just determining that we are going to stop doing what we know is wrong, but to simply return to our first love, God. That is why the Lord summed up the entire Law of Moses with the two commandments: to love the Lord, and to love our neighbors. If we love God, we will not worship idols or do the things that offend Him because we are the temple of His Holy Spirit. If we love our neighbors, we will not murder, steal, or even envy them. If we live a life devoted to loving God and our neighbors, we will not do wrong things, and will therefore fulfill the Law. True holiness is not motivated by fear, but love.
The true holiness to which the church is called is not that of a bride who is afraid that if she is not perfect her bridegroom will punish her. True holiness is that of a bride who is so passionately in love with her Bridegroom that she wants to be perfect for Him in every way. Therefore, the first step in recovering any spiritual ground that we have lost by falling into sin is to pray for God to have mercy on us and restore to us our first love. To then stay on the path is a simple devotion to growing in love for Him and our neighbors.