Why must we be holy?

[arunangelo]

We must be holy because God calls us to be holy and perfect, just like Him (Leviticus 19:1-2; Matthew 5: 48). The holiness of God is revealed in Jesus who sacrificed His life in order to compensate for the sins we committed against Him. In other words, He the victim compensated for the offenses we committed against Him. We must therefore, love our enemies; pray for our persecutors; offer the other cheek if slapped on one; walk two miles if forced to walk one; not ask back what others have borrowed from us (Matthew 5:38-47); not take revenge; and love others as we love our self (Lev. 19:18). The world may think we are foolish to follow such teachings; however we must remember that the wisdom of the world is folly to God. Furthermore, we may think that it is impossible to follow such teachings; however we must remember that because God’s spirit dwells in us (1 Cor. 3:16) with His help we can do it. All we need to do is to sincerely desire His holiness.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

 

[elijah23]

Sin and selfishness are the same thing. When we are selfish, trouble leaks into our lives. To prevent that from happening, we must be unselfish, which is another way of saying that we must be holy.

Put another way, we need to be chaste, humble, sober, love the Lord with all our heart, minds, and souls, and love our neighbors as ourselves.