1 Peter 1:14-16 (NASB)
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “ You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Most Christians see the call to holiness as a daunting thing that just flows out of God’s perfection, and His unwillingness to tolerate sin. The truth is, God’s call to us to live a holy life is one of His great affirmations. It unveils the undreamed-of magnitude of God’s love for us, and our supreme value. 1Timothy 3:16 says, “and by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: God who was revealed in the flesh…” Ultimately, the human capacity to contain God, and to allow Him to express His life through us, is what we call holiness. 2 Cor.4 tells us that we are earthen vessels created to contain divinity.
Romans 8:30 says that in some way we have already been glorified. There is a glory about every Christian, and I believe that glory is the very life of God we contain, and are given the privilege to express. The fact that God has clothed our humanity with His deity sets us apart from every other creature, or being, as having supreme worth and value.
Also who could imagine someone loving us so much as to have such an unimaginable plan for us that includes His own power and grace within to transform any life to live that remarkable destiny. He certainly loves us and values us more more than we love and value ourselves.
Oh, by the way, He is not threatened or put off by the fact that our humanity is flawed and full of weakness. Redemption is God loving us with eyes wide open. Remember, His power is perfected in our weaknesses. I pray the call to holiness causes us to repent of rejecting what God so loves and values; our humanity, flaws and all.