Hoping in holiness

Published on 23 February 2023 at 20:44

Hoping in holiness is about striving for holiness while acknowledging that our hope in Christ is the bedrock of that holiness. The first letter of St Peter opens with the expectation that Christians strive to develop disciplines and strive for holiness.

Striving for holiness is counter cultural, but it is not a rejection of the world around us. Hoping for holiness is to actively engage with God's vision for humanity not our own. To desire to claim that fullness of life that Jesus offers. (See John 10:10) Not to compete to be the most holy, most, heroic, most awesome human being - but to see our humanity not as something to be tamed or conquered but as a gift received and given in which God's Glory is revealed.

This holiness is not a compliment to be sought or a bagde to be worn, it is derived from God and is a gift of grace - that is the hope that Christians cling to.

Therefore prepare your minds for action;
discipline yourselves;
set all your hope on the grace
that Jesus Christ will bring you
when he is revealed.
Like obedient children,
do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.
Instead, as he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in all your conduct;
for it is written,
‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’

Hoping in holiness

1 Peter 1:13-16

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