“But AS he which hath called you is holy, SO be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy”(1 Peter 1:15-16).
Notice here above what Peter said about the holiness of God…AS and SO. His aim for believers is that they would submit to the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God after salvation and as He is holy so we are to be holy.
The holiness of God is the attribute He reveals to us that has meant the most to me. I think many would say that the love of God is but I would like to present the concept that they are two sides of the same coin and one can’t exist apart from the other. I never had to be convinced of His love for me. I feel that in some strange way, even when I was lost and had no knowledge of God or of His word, I knew it. I can’t say that I ever have doubted His love because He wrote it on my heart and your heart when we were a thought in His mind. Now later, when I read the gospel and my heart was opened to receive it, the forgiveness of sin and redemption through His blood, I was overwhelmed with the knowledge of His love and have only been more and more sure of it as time has gone by. God is love.
It is the holiness of God (and if He were not holy, He would not be love) that changes me, strengthens me and gives me hope. A true revelation of His holiness does one thing to the believer…it makes them also holy as He is. A believer who does not favor, esteem and adore His holiness, remains unholy in all manner of conversation…a word which is broad and means both conversation but mostly behavior from the heart. He is a double-minded man and robs himself of a glorious existence in Christ Jesus.
The believer who instead offers himself as a living sacrifice to God (death to the old ways) who is transformed (Romans 12:1-2). It is our submission but His work and it is where abiding in Christ, hiding with Christ in God, occurs.
This is the abundant life!