Striving for Holiness

I've been thinking a lot about holiness lately........I still have a lot to learn about this topic, but here are some thing I know to be true:

• God tells us to be holy just as He, Himself, is holy (1 Peter 1:16). We know that no one but God can obtain holiness. However, if God has commanded us to do something, should we not obey Him? If we love God we will obey Him.

• We cannot become holy, but we can strive to obtain it. How we do this is by following the example of Christ. This means not compromising in what we know to be true in our walk with Christ. So often it is easy to think that if we do something just once, it won't hurt us. What we don't realize is that by compromising what we know to be true, we have already hurt ourselves.

• Striving to be holy is taking the high road. It isn't an easy road and often, it is a lonely road, but it is definitely a worthwhile pursuit. It helps us learn more about ourselves, purifies our hearts and motives, and helps us to seek God in all we do.

• Holiness is to not to just seek perfection but to seek to be like God. This means that we are to be one with the Father and to desire only what is true and right. We can never be holy because we are flawed human beings, but by striving to do so we can obey God, and in doing so, deepen our relationship with Christ.