Peter began his first epistle by reminding believers that we are not of this world; our true citizenship is found in God’s kingdom. As such, we live in the present world as exiles and ambassadors—representatives of our true King.

With this reminder established, Peter explained how Christ’s ambassadors are to live, which can be summed up in God’s words recorded at the end of 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy, because I am holy.” Peter draws this imperative from Leviticus 11:44-45, where God had told the Israelites this twice in rapid succession.

To be holy is to be set apart, to be different in a good way. As such, holiness is at the core of the Old Testament law. The reason behind many of God’s commands that may make us scratch our heads is holiness. These commands were to teach Israel what it means to be holy and to model holiness to the watching world. All of this points us to the even greater idea of God’s holiness. God’s people—His image bearers–are to imitate God.

So far so good, right? But this is where the wheels fall off of the cart. When we turn our attention to God’s holiness, we quickly come to the point of recognizing that this is an impossible standard. God is perfectly holy. There is absolutely no sin in Him. He is perfectly loving, kind, and good without an ounce of hate or evil. How are we supposed to be this holy? Why would God command us to do something we cannot do?

The answer to that last question is that God gave this command exactly because we cannot do it. We cannot be holy enough—not even close. Not on our own, that is. But the beauty of the gospel shows us another way. We can indeed be holy as God is holy because Christ is holy. And when we trust in Christ, our sin is removed and in its place we are credited with Christ’s perfect righteousness. (2 Cor. 5:21) We obey this command of God by trusting in Christ!

But it doesn’t end there. We are holy in our identity in Christ, but each day we are to strive to live out our new, true holy identity. Every day, our goal is to live as who we now are, rather than who we were. Even this though, is done not in our power, but in Christ’s power. No one is like God in His fullness, but in Christ, we as His children are called and empowered to be like Him in many ways.

Every week, members of The Gospel Project for Kids team offer guidance to help you as you prepare to teach every session to preschoolers and kids.

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