Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1Peter 1:13-15
Peter reminds us that we have the hope and the expectation that Jesus will continue to reveal Himself to us until such a time that we meet Him face to face. This is an important point for all of us. Our personal relationship with the Lord requires us to remain in tune with Him. While we need to read the Bible daily, we should also keep our spiritual eyes and ears open to anything that the Lord wants to speak or reveal to us. Otherwise our walk with Him becomes dry, distant, and functional.
Peter goes on to tell us that we are called to be obedient children. We can’t be holy people and be disobedient at the same time! Many people live unrestrained lives because they have no hope or vision for their future. They think that this life is all there is, so they might as well live it up and do what they want to do. Others think that their hard work has earned them the right to splurge and that they deserve what they do with their time and money.
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18
The scripture tells us that without revelation and vision people cast off restraint. On the flip side, with vision and revelation from God, we can walk the narrow path, keep to His ways, and restrain ourselves from indulging ourselves. Everything we do has spiritual implications. We cannot create a compartment of holiness in one corner of our lives but then do what we want to do in other areas of our lives.
Furthermore, Peter told the believers not to walk in the former lusts as ignorant people. When we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, He forgave us and delivered us from our past sins and habits. Now, on the other side of the cross and deliverance, we are able to see how the enemy had held us captive by wrong mindsets and habits. Our eyes were opened to the spiritual warfare waged against God’s people. We are no longer ignorant of the enemy’s devices who tried to hold us captive by various temptations and lusts. Once we see the spiritual realities, we can’t go back to the old lifestyle of ignorance anymore. While the enemy will still try to tempt us, God gives us the grace to overcome in every situation if we look to Him for help.
Praise God for the work of Jesus on the cross. He purchased righteousness, holiness, and freedom for us through His shed blood. We could not have earned or achieved it in our own strength. However, once we become a born again believer, we have a responsibility to walk with Him in holiness. He gives us the new nature, the vision, the grace, and the enablement to overcome ourselves, the world, and the enemy! Now we become like Him as we walk in holiness.
Walking in holiness is about putting the past behind, getting a handle on our thoughts, remaining alert to temptations, and walking the narrow path of God’s ways. Are you able to declare that you are holy in all your conduct? Are you willing to walk the narrow path of holiness without regard to friends and family members whose goal and vision are not the same as yours? Are you able to overcome your own thoughts and emotions and surrender your will daily to the Lord? God will enable us to walk in this path of holiness one step at a time as we walk according to Peter’s exhortation in the above passage.