Day 3 - January 10th | "Holiness" by Pastor Dale Klaehn

We serve a great God! He has blessed us with life and another year to serve Him. As we start this new year many of us have set some New Year resolutions, or goals we want to accomplish before the end of the year. Some goals may be to spend more time with our families, work less hours, make more money, spend more time with God, and the list goes on. Being "Holy" may not be one of the things on our list. But I want to challenge you today, "to be holy". Why? Because God commands us to. All throughout the Scriptures God calls His people to be holy, because He is Holy(Lev 11:44), and what is true of God should be true of his people. When we refer to God, holiness relates to his absolute purity, perfection, completeness and separation from evil. In relation to ourselves or to God’s people, we think of holiness as being morally pure, spiritually whole, separated from the lusts or ungodly ways of the world and it sets us apart to love, serve and worship God. Holiness is not only avoiding evil, it is also pursuing holiness or godliness. Holiness is a goal of our calling to follow Christ (Eph. 1:4). It means being like God and being dedicated completely to him. We are made holy by the sanctifying or purifying work of the Holy Spirit, by Christ’s sacrifice, by being renewed in the image of God and by the gift of God’s grace which enables us to obey God and live by his Word. In First Peter 1:13-25, Peter is encouraging the exiled Christians throughout Asia and the surrounding area's to be set apart for God (Sanctified). Even though they are being persecuted and living in an ungodly world, he encouraged them to remain holy, because He is Holy. He didn't want them to lose what they had in Christ and return to their old life.

Today, I want to encourage you to be set apart to God and be Holy. Throughout the next year, set a goal to read the Word and pray daily. When we do this, the Holy Spirit changes us and we become more like Him.