Day 1: God's Call to Holiness
"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.'" — 1 Peter 1:15–16
The call of God is the manifestation in time of the purpose of eternity: "Whom He predestined, these He also called" (Romans 8:30). Believers are "the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). In his call he reveals to us what his thoughts and his will concerning us are, and what the life to which he invites us. In his call he makes clear to us what the hope of our calling is; as we spiritually understand and enter into this, our life on earth will be the reflection of his purpose in eternity.
Holy Scripture uses more than one word to indicate the aim of our calling, but none more frequently than what Peter speaks of here — God has called us to be holy as he is holy. Paul addresses believers twice as "called to be holy" (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). "God called us," he says, "not for uncleanness, but in sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:7). When he writes, "The God of peace sanctify you completely," he adds, "Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24). The calling itself is spoken of as "a holy calling" (2 Timothy 1:9). The eternal purpose of which the calling is the outcome is continually connected with holiness as its aim. "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame" (Ephesians 1:4). The call is the unveiling of the purpose that the Father from eternity had set his heart upon: that we should be holy.
It is of infinite importance to know rightly what God has called us to. A misunderstanding here may have fatal results. You may have heard that God calls you to salvation or to happiness, to receive pardon or to obtain heaven, and never noticed that all these were subordinate. It was to "salvation in sanctification," it was to holiness in the first place, as the element in which salvation and heaven are to be found. The complaints of many Christians about lack of joy and strength, about failure and want of growth, are simply owing to this: the place God gave holiness in his call, they have not given it in their response. God and they have never yet come to an agreement on this.1
"Like as He who called you is holy, be you yourselves also holy." How this call of God shows us the true motive for holiness. "Be holy, for I am holy." It is as if God said: Holiness is my blessedness and my glory; without this you cannot, in the very nature of things, see me or enjoy me. Holiness is my blessedness and my glory; there is nothing higher to be conceived; I invite you to share with me in it, I invite you to likeness to myself: "Be holy, for I am holy." Is it not enough? Has it no attraction? Does it not move and draw you mightily — the hope of being with me, partakers of my holiness? I have nothing better to offer — I offer you myself: "Be holy, for I am holy." Shall we not cry earnestly to God to show us the glory of his holiness, that our souls may be made willing to give everything in response to this wondrous call?
As we listen to the call, it shows also the nature of true holiness. "Like as He is holy, so be you also holy." To be holy is to be Godlike — to have a disposition, a will, a character like God. The thought almost looks like blasphemy, until we listen again: "He chose us in Christ to be holy." In Christ the holiness of God appeared in a human life; in Christ's example, in his mind and Spirit, we have the holiness of the Invisible One translated into the forms of human life and conduct. To be Christlike is to be Godlike; to be Christlike is to be holy as God is holy.
The call equally reveals the power of holiness. "There is none holy but the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:2); there is no holiness but what he has, or rather what he is, and gives. Holiness is not something we do or attain: it is the communication of the divine life, the inbreathing of the divine nature, the power of the divine Presence resting on us. And our power to become holy is to be found in the call of God: the Holy One calls us to himself, that he may make us holy in possessing himself. He not only says "I am holy," but "I am the Lord who sanctifies you" (Leviticus 20:8). It is because the call to holiness comes from the God of infinite power and love that we may have this confidence: we can be holy.2
The call no less reveals the standard of holiness. "Like as He is holy, so you also yourselves." There is not one standard of holiness for God and another for us. The nature of light is the same whether we see it in the sun or in a candle; the nature of holiness remains unchanged whether it is God or a human being in whom it dwells. The Lord Jesus could say nothing less than, "Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). When God calls us to holiness, he calls us to himself and his own life.
And the call shows us the path to holiness. The calling of God is one of mighty efficacy, an effectual calling. Let us but listen to it, let us but listen to him, and the call will with divine power work what it offers. He calls the things that are not as though they were; his call gives life to the dead and holiness to those whom he has made alive. He calls us to himself, to study, to fear, to love, to claim his holiness. He calls us to Christ, in whom divine holiness became human holiness, to see and admire, to desire and accept what is all for us. He calls us to the indwelling and the teaching of the Spirit of Holiness, to yield ourselves that he may bring home to us and breathe within us what is ours in Christ.3
Christian! Listen to God calling you to holiness. Come and learn what his holiness is, and what yours is and must be.
Yes, be very still and listen. When God called Abraham, he answered, "Here I am." When God called Moses from the bush, he answered, "Here I am," and he hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. God is calling you to holiness, to himself the Holy One, that he may make you holy. Let your whole soul answer: Here I am, Lord! Speak, Lord! Show Yourself, Lord! Here I am. As you listen, the voice will sound ever deeper and ever stiller: Be holy, as I am holy. Be holy, for I am holy. You will hear a voice coming out of the great eternity, and as you catch its distant whisper, it will be: Be holy, I am holy. You will hear a voice from Paradise, the Creator making the seventh day holy for the one he had created. You will hear the voice from Sinai amid thunderings and lightnings: Be holy, as I am holy. You will hear a voice from Calvary, and there above all it is: Be holy, for I am holy.
Child of God, have you ever realized it? Our Father is calling us to himself, to be holy as he is holy. Must we not confess that happiness has been to us more than holiness, salvation more than sanctification? Oh, it is not too late to correct the error. Let us now band ourselves together to listen to the voice that calls, to draw near, and find out and know what holiness is — or rather, find out and know himself the Holy One. All our fears and questions will be met by the Holy One who has revealed his holiness with this one purpose in view: that we might share it with him. As we yield ourselves in deep stillness of soul to listen to the Holy Voice that calls us, it will awaken within us new desire and strong faith, and the most precious of all promises will be to us this word of divine command:
BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.
Prayer
O Lord, the alone Holy One! You have called us to be holy, even as You are holy. Lord, how can we, unless You reveal to us Your holiness? Show us, we pray, how You are holy, how holy You are, what Your holiness is, that we may know how we are to be holy, how holy we are to be. And when the sight of Your holiness only shows us the more how unholy we are, teach us that You make partakers of Your own holiness those who come to You for it.
O God, we come to You, the Holy One. It is in knowing and finding and having Yourself that the soul finds holiness. We do ask You, as we now come to You, establish it in the thoughts of our hearts that the one object of Your calling us and of our coming to You is holiness. You would have us like Yourself, partakers of Your holiness. Holy Father, I bow in lowly worship and silence before You. Let now Your own voice sound in the depths of my heart calling me: Be holy, as I am holy. Amen.
For Further Thought
1. Let me press it upon every reader of this little book: if it is to help you in the pursuit of holiness, you must begin with God himself. You must go to Him who calls you. It is only in the personal revelation of God to you, as he speaks, "I am holy," that the command, "Be holy," can have life or power.
2. Remember, as a believer you have already accepted God's call, even though you did not fully understand it. Let it be a settled matter: whatever you see to be the meaning of the call, you will at once accept and carry it out. If God calls me to be holy, holy I will be.
3. Take fast hold of the word: "The God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24). In that faith, listen to God calling you.
4. Do be still now, and listen to your Father calling you. Ask for and count upon the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, to open your heart to understand this holy calling. And then speak out the answer you have to give to this call.
Footnotes
1 "The place God gave holiness in his call, they have not given it in their response." Murray identifies the root cause of spiritual weakness in many Christians: they have sought salvation, happiness, pardon, even heaven — but not holiness. Holiness was always the primary call; everything else is subordinate to it.
2 "Holiness is not something we do or attain: it is the communication of the divine life." Murray distinguishes sharply between holiness as moral effort and holiness as divine gift. We do not make ourselves holy; we receive holiness from the Holy One who calls us to himself. The power of holiness is the presence of God.
3 Murray identifies four things the call to holiness reveals: its motive (God's own character), its nature (Christlikeness), its power (God himself), and its standard (God's own holiness). The call is not merely an invitation but an "effectual calling" — it creates what it commands.