Holiness

Back to Leviticus 11 and more serious questions concerning its text. Verse 45b: "You must therefore be holy because I am holy." We can't skip past this one because it shows up again in the New Testament. Twice.

1 Thessalonians 4:7- "God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives."

1 Peter 1:16- "You must be holy because I am holy."

There's a worship song that became popular when I was in college that stated "Holiness is what I long for, holiness is what I need." While I always felt genuine singing the latter half of that, I never knew for sure that I really meant the first part of it. For me, it seemed that holiness always worked its way into the same cognitive category as legalism. I know that's not true, but I never really understood how to properly "long" for holiness.

Perhaps it begins with a longing for God. After all, He is holy. And He is who and what we need.