Daily Verse: 1 Peter 1:14-15

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

 

Before we received the Word of God…before we were given the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we perhaps had an excuse to willingly live with sin in our lives. After all, if we don’t know that something is wrong, how do we know NOT to do it? It’s a different story though after we receive the Word of God. For we now know the right and the wrong way to live. We know the words that should and should not be spoken. We know the entertainment that is considered righteous and unrighteous. We know what actions are appropriate and which are inappropriate. We have no excuse. The rules have been laid before us and we are aware of them. Period. Therefore we should spend each day trying to live as close to the God’s law as possible. Now don’t get me wrong, we are not in a performance based salvation situation. We are not working to live a righteous life as some means to earn our salvation or please God enough for him to ignore our sinful past and let us into his kingdom. Nope, that price has already been paid…and it’s a price that we are completely incapable of paying in full. By dying on the cross, Jesus paid the price in full. And through genuine faith in Christ and Christ alone, we are granted salvation. We seek to live righteously because the One who gave EVERYTHING to us on that cross calls us to live righteously. We pursue righteous living because every single good thing that is a part of our lives has come directly from that Man that hung from that cross. May we seek to live holy today, striving to cast aside our old lives of sin, and serving the Lord with our words, thoughts, and actions. To God be the glory!