Be Holy As I Am Holy

God doesn't give us a set of rules to live by like with Israel; they had rules for holidays and sacrifices; how to make contracts, what to eat, how to clean mildew out of a house (Lev. 14!!), and what to wear to the tabernacle/temple.  God has changed His tone with us; He strikes more at the heart of the matter, because the heart is what matters!
   Peter tells us in I Peter 1:13-15 to "be holy, for God is holy."  This is a quote from Leviticus, when God was giving Israel the law to  follow and guidelines for living; He paused several times to say, "Be Holy as I am Holy."  This theme from the OT is carried forward into the NT, so we don't get to write it off!
   What does it mean to be holy?  Conforming to God's standards; totally devoted to God in everything; set apart from anything worldly; thinking the thoughts of God. God didn't give us rules under His new covenant for how to clean our houses or even what to eat; He didn't give us lots of structure to help us see for ourselves how to be holy, but He did come out again in the NT telling us to do it.  So what do we see that can help us?
   The root of this Hebrew word means "to be clean, ceremonially and/or morally."  Why?  Why does it matter so much to God that we are clean?  As a parent of young children, I was always ready with a wet washcloth or wipe to keep my girls clean; after playing outside in dirt or with the neighbor's dog I was always ready for a bath.  Why?  I wanted to make sure they were free of any germs they might have picked up and brought with them. I didn't want them getting any sickness from something dirty they had encountered.  What if - dirt was something we were allergic to in our house?  What if it was absolutely imperative that we not touch anything with dirt on it?  Then my girls would have had to change their behavior - I could not have enjoyed the bubble-blowing fun or building dirt volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar.  We could not have enjoyed cutting flower bouquets or braiding them into wreaths for our hair.  The dogs would have been totally unwelcome!!
   I suggest this is the relationship God has with "dirt." He is holy, and by His very nature cannot be around unholiness of any kind.  When He tells us to be holy, it is because He cannot come near if we are not.  He knows how bad that is for us.  One of my favorite illustrations of this principle at work comes from a science project we did in elementary school.  We discovered that if you sprinkle pepper onto a bowl of water, and then you take a bar of real soap and let it touch the water, the pepper runs away.  It cannot stay near the soap; the soap cannot be made to touch the pepper.  Picture you with pepper on your soul, and God the soap trying to be near to you because you are His beloved.  He cannot do it.  It is impossible.  He is too Holy.
   An example of this in scripture, I believe, is found in God's dealing with Moses.  He comes to Moses and recruits him to be the spokesman for Israel to Pharoah.  After being convinced, Moses sets off for Egypt.  On the way, Exodus 4:24 that the Lord met him and sought to kill him.  Whaaaa??  Isn't Moses doing what God asked?  The answer is in the next few verses - Moses had failed to circumcise his own sons in the way God had established for His people way back in Gen. 17.   Fast forward to Ex. 19.  When God is instructing Moses in how to tell the people to come near to Mount Sinai, He says in v22 "tell the priests who come near to consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them."  In other words, God said He could not be near them unless they were consecrated, which was also one purpose of circumcision.  Perhaps Moses' neglectfulness of his son's consecration almost cost him his life.
    So how do we achieve holiness?  One key is found in Paul's words in 2 Cor. 10:3-5.  Paul says we are at war, but our weapons are not physical.  He says we are to destroy fortresses (NAS) or strongholds (NIV) or obstacles (NLT) that are human, and we take captive every thought for Christ.  That suggests that my thoughts are naturally for something other than Christ.  It suggests they didn't come to be on Christ's side on their own.  They have to be taken captive.  Why?  Because we live in a world that tries to steal our thoughts.  According to this passage, our thoughts are where we are to start our warfare.  People who are unbelieving are described as having corrupt minds (Titus 1:15:, as those who lie awake making evil plans (Micah 2:1).
   In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus says sin does not start as an act of murder; it started with anger and angry thoughts.  Mark 7:18, 20-23 tells us that from inside man's heart come evil thoughts, and those are first in a list of sins.  He says in v 18 that what goes into a man does not defile but what comes out.
   That brings in another idea  - Jesus says what goes in does not defile, but what comes out.  James 1:14 says our own desires cause us to be tempted, nothing outside.  That starts with our thought life.
   Maybe being in the world but not of the world, having the thoughts of God to be holy like He is holy - maybe it is as simple as only letting our minds have good things going in.  Then there would be less bad to come out.  Phil. 4:8 gives us good advice - the things we should dwell on (NASB) and think about (NIV) are things that are true, honorable, noble, pure, admirable, lovely - Paul tells us the key to having a pure thought life, to helping us take our thoughts captive - is keeping our thoughts on things that God would think about.
   Jesus said that what goes in does not defile; this means that I Cor. 6:12 is also true - all things are lawful, but not all things are good (profitable - NASB; beneficial-NIV).  Paul says watching a TV show with gay characters is lawful; listening to music that glorifies sexual immorality is permissible (NIV); watching movies that glorifies selfishness are allowed (NLT); but they are not all good for me.  What comes out of me defiles me, and feeding the fleshly nature means it grows stronger.  If you watch things or listen to things that cause you to think less than the thoughts of God, you need to turn those things off.  Paul said it is not good.  Why would you waste the time you have on something not profitable?  Paul goes on in Eph. 5:1 to tell us to imitate God, like dearly loved children imitate their parents.  Have you ever seen a little girl wearing her mother's shoes?  Carrying a play phone up to her ear?  She is imitating her mother who loves her dearly; she wants to be like her.
   Scary feeling as a mother - but that is what children who feel loved do.  Paul says we are to imitate our Father just like that.  Later in vv 15-17 he challenges us to be "careful how you walk, making the most of your time (redeeming the time - NASB, NIV) because the days are evil."  You don't have time to waste on things that are unprofitable!  Time is short, and satan wants to make sure you waste a lot of yours in unprofitable things.
   Remember satan is prowling like a lion (active hunter) seeking who he can devour (I Peter 5:8).  God warned Cain back in Gen. 4:7 that sin was crouching at his door, and Cain needed to subdue it and be its master.  He could not slay it, but he just needed to subdue it.  It is an interesting side note that Peter pictured the enemy as the same animal that Christ is pictured as - they are both compared to lions.  Christ of course is the lion of Judah - the leader and protector of His people.  However, we know satan loves to imitate truth, and this picture of him reenforces that.
   We cannot pretend that sin is not present - that the devil is not crouching at our door waiting to devour us - that simply leads to us fading away, as Casting Crowns points out so poignantly in their song, "Slow Fade."  We are to give God our physical selves as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1) and avoid looking like the world (v 2) by letting God transform the way we think.  Transformation is not a small change - it is metamorphosing (metamorphoo in Greek).  This word is the basis for our description of  a caterpillar into a butterfly.    He will change your character (which is not in line with His on its own - remember we must take it captive) to be as different from your natural self as a butterfly is from a caterpillar.  He is not after just another color caterpillar - He wants butterflies.
   We see basically 2 choices:  to conquer evil with good or to be conquered.  If we aren't choosing to redeem our time by putting our minds on the right things, by letting God's ways of thinking transform our way of thinking, then we are not conquering evil with good.  There is no 3rd choice of ignoring it or pretending it doesn't affect us.  God doesn't leave that option open.  If we are engaged in activities that are not beneficial, then we are engaged in activities that are destructive.  There is no neutral.  If you are not trying to go somewhere on purpose, you are going somewhere else.