Living A Holy Life Before God

1 Peter 1:13-16
Living Before God Our Father
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

God has called us to live a holy life before Him. We need to prepare our minds and hearts to do His will.

We can look forward soberly and rest in Christ as God abounds His grace and kindness to us before Jesus returns.
 
In the past, we did not understand, so we did evil to fulfill our own lusts. But now we are children of God, we need to obey the Lord. We do not have to live in the same way as we had lived in the past.
 
Just as God is holy, we need to be holy in all that we do. God is the One who called us. We must be holy, because He is holy.
 
What is holiness? It is not a list of dos and don’ts. It is not a list of religious activities and programs.
 
Many Christians have a wrong idea of what holiness is. Their view of holiness will exhaust us even before our day begins.
 
Each day, we wake up, all set and determined to be holy. We plan to do everything right. We pray. We read our Bible. We are careful in what we say and do. We try not to lose our temper. We avoid the things we know we should not be watching.
 
And for a few hours, everything seems to be going smoothly. Then somebody says the wrong thing. We react badly. Some past temptations recur again. We are caught thinking the exact same ugly thoughts. We keep doing things that we promised God that we would not do again.
 
And suddenly, we question our faith and God. How can we be holy if we are still struggling with these? Maybe we are not the children of God. Maybe God is far away from us.
 
By measuring holiness with our own reasonings and standards, we have used the wrong ruler from the start.

Leviticus 20:26
And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

We shall be holy to God as God is holy. He had set us apart from all other peoples so that we can be His people.
 
Holy means “set apart.” And God is doing that, not us. He is setting us apart!
 
Holiness is not about us trying to maintain a perfect spiritual scorecard. It is not about us pretending that all temptations have gone away and disappeared.
 
Holiness is not being able to avoid every mistake. It is much more than that. It deals with our daily conversations, money, relationships, private choices, and personal decisions. It is in what we do with our phones when nobody else is watching.
 
It is easy to act holy and talk holy when we are in church. But at work, are we holy? Are we falsifying reports just like what the others are doing? Nobody would know if we follow the people of the world. Our boss or manager might even reward us for it. What is holiness there and then?
 
Suppose somebody hurts us, and we have our rights and an opportunity to hurt them back. How can we be holy there and then?
 
Suppose temptation is sitting just one tap away on our screens late at night. Nobody will ever know what we watch.  Where is holiness then?
 
Holiness is not about living a flawless life. It is living before a holy God. And God did not say that we need to earn enough good behavior points for Him before He would accept and love us. What we lack, He supplies.
 
In 605 BC, a noble Jewish youth was taken into exile in Babylon. His name was Daniel. He was placed and forced into a culture that was about to challenge and confront everything he had believed.
 
Before all the intense pressures and problems surfaced, Daniel made an important decision. A decision that reveals what true holiness means in our everyday life.
 
Daniel did not arrive in Babylon looking for a spiritual encounter and challenge. He had been taken forcefully from his home. He had to live inside a culture he did not like. He was surrounded by unholy people who didn't worship the true God.
 
His environment had changed. His education had changed. Even his name was changed by the Babylonians.

Daniel 1:8
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Daniel decided not to eat the king’s food and wine because that would make him unclean.  
 
Daniel purposed in his heart, and made a decision. He was determined to be holy before God. That decision might cost him his life. The decision was made before all the battles began!
 
Most of us would think our battle begins when temptation appears. But very often, we lost the battle. Why? Simply because we waited until temptation arrived to decide what to do.
 
We kept falling into the same patterns late at night. We are alone. Our phones are besides us. The temptation appears. And we try to make a good decision when temptation strikes. That is the worst moment when our lustful desire is the strongest. How can we make a wise decision there and then?
 
Daniel resolved beforehand. Before anything happened, he made a decision, and was determined to keep it! Decisions need to be made before the tempting moment comes.
 
Before we are angry, we need to decide what bad words not to use. Before dishonest money are offered, we need to decide to be right before God, having accountability and integrity.
 
Before we enter into friendships and relationships, we need to decide the boundary lines that we will not cross over!
 
Before we are alone with our phones, we need to decide what not to access.
 
It is important for us to know that Daniel did not become holy because Babylon disappeared. Babylon remained. The sinful culture remained. The pressures and temptations remained.
 
Daniel simply refused to let the external environment around him affect and change the person he would become internally.
 
That’s why we are wrong about what holiness is. We think that our temptations would go away, and we could live differently if our homes or workplaces were different, if my friends were different, and if my relationships were less stressful.
 
But holiness has to be functional even while the world is still around us. Holiness is God setting us apart from the world even as we are in the world! We are in the world but not of the world!

John 17:14-17
14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

We don’t belong to the world because Jesus does not belong to the world. Christ did not take us out of the world. But He is keeping us safe from evil. He is making us ready to serve God faithfully and truthfully. And His Word is the Truth.
 
Besides Daniel, there was another Biblical example in Genesis 39 about holiness. Joseph was a young Israelite alone in Egypt. He was sold as a slave to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard.
 
Later, Joseph became Potiphar's servant, and subsequently the superintendent of Potiphar’s household.
 
But Joseph was young and handsome. Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph, which he refused. Angered by his running away from her, she made a false accusation of rape. For the righteous act of rejecting her sexual advances, Joseph was imprisoned
 
Joseph was all alone in a room. No friends were watching. No family members were there. Seemingly, there were no concerns and consequences to worry about. He was just a slave in Egypt. He was not from the tribe of Levi. He was not a holy priest.
 
When the woman seduced him, Joseph said something to her.

Genesis 39:9
There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

How could he sin against God? How could he do such an evil thing?

Joseph had purposed in his heart, and was determined not to sin against God. No matter what happened to him, he refused to do things which were unholy before God. Even when nobody was watching. Even when he was away from his home, his religious community and his people. Joseph remained holy in an unholy and pagan Egypt.
 
Even when temptations repeatedly tried to pull him away to commit sexual sins, Joseph had already determined beforehand in his heart not to sin against God!
 
In the story of Daniel and Joseph, even when nobody on earth was watching, Somebody in heaven was watching! God Himself.

They were not trying to pretend to be holy using their own might and strength.
 
They were holy as God was strengthening and empowering them to live a holy life before Him! They were holy because God was their only Audience. And God is holy!
 
If nobody is watching us, what decisions would we make? What websites would we search? What messages would we send? What words will we say? If traveling for work or vacation in a different city, alone in the hotel room, what would we do when nobody was there?
 
Joseph knew that God was there. When faced with temptations, he did not just stand where he was. He fled the scene. He ran away from the snares!

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
 
James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

How do we flee sexual immorality? We need to first submit ourselves to God. After doing so, the presence of God will be there. He will give us grace and strength. We can then resist the devil, and he will flee from us!
 
Joseph ran to God! That’s the best strategy we can do too. We don’t need to negotiate with temptations. We simply run and submit ourselves to God.
 
How to run? Close the app, leave the conversation, end the call, walk away from the room, or remove the access.
 
Like walking along a cliff, holiness is not about being able how to walk safely as close as possible to the edges without falling. It is about keeping and maintaining a safe distance from the edges!  

Many people are playing with fire. They would try to touch the fire without getting burnt!
 
Many religious people think that they are holy. They look good on the outside, but not so on the inside!

Matthew 23:25
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they were hypocrites! They washed the outside of their cups and dishes. But inside they were full of evil things. They got by their riches by cheating others. They were pleasing only themselves.
 
These people are extremely serious about appearing holy and righteous. From the outside, they looked incredibly clean. What was happening inside them? Were they able to resist temptations when the time came? If they fell, what would they do?
 
Throughout history, many men of God had failed in their journey with God. What happens when a holy person fails?
 
The apostle Peter had spent more than three years living and walking with Jesus. He heard His teachings. He saw His miracles. He watched how Jesus prayed.
 
But before His arrest, Jesus warned Peter that he would deny Him thrice. But Peter was confident that he would not do so.

Matthew 26:34-35
34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.

And Peter did not stand when the pressures came. When the accusations came, one after another, Peter denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.

Luke 22:61
And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

After the third denial, the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. How did Peter feel at that moment? He had just done the very thing he promised Jesus he would never do.
 
Peter was ashamed of himself. He went outside and wept bitterly.
 
Peter fell. His failure broke his heart. But that was not the end of the holy man of God.
 
After the resurrection, Jesus met Peter again. Jesus didn't pretend that the denials never happened. He restored Peter. Then He called him for His mission and work again.
 
Jesus asked Peter thrice, “Do you love Me?” Peter answered affirmatively three times. Jesus told him to feed His sheep.
 
Peter's worst failure wasn't the end of his usefulness to God. Holiness is not about not failing God. It is about what we do after we have failed Him.
 
We are called to be a holy people before God. We shouldn't have done this and that. And we failed miserably. But that’s not the end of our relationship with God.

 Like the prodigal son, our Father in heaven is always waiting for our return. He wants to restore us again. But we must repent of our ways, and return back to Him.
 
Holiness is not pretending that we never fall. It is what we do when we do fall.

Proverbs 24:16
For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again,
But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

Righteous people can fall. But they do not have to remain on the ground. They get back up. They rise again!
 
There are two dangers and extremes we need to avoid. One says, "If I fail, God is finished with me." The other says, "Since God forgives me, it doesn't matter how I live."
 
His grace and strength will enable us to be holy. His grace doesn't give us the permission to keep sinning against God.

His grace gives us a refuge and hiding place to run and hide when sin has knocked us down. His grace also enables us to stand up, rise again, be strong, and live a holy life before Him.
 
Holiness is not about living a perfect and flawless life before God. It isn't about keeping religious rules and regulations. It is being set apart for God.
 
How does God set us apart? The apostle Paul gave us one of the simplest illustrations of holiness in the Bible. Not a temple, not a priest, not a prayer warrior praying and interceding for hours but a common pot or container in a house. 

2 Timothy 2:20-21
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

Some vessels are made of gold and silver. Some are made of wood and clay. Some are used for special purposes, and others are made for ordinary jobs. If anyone makes himself clean from evil things, he will be used for special purposes.

The vessel will be made holy, and the Master can use him. He will be ready to do any good work.
 
Holiness is not about a list of dos and don’ts for us. It is what God is doing!  God is preparing a life that He can use. Are we becoming useful to God? He is our Master. Can He use us?
 
Are we cleaned and prepared to do His purpose and will? Are we blessed to be a blessing to others? Are we givers or are we takers? In our homes, workplaces and everywhere we go. In every decision we make, are we faithful to Him?
 
Holiness is not just looking at sins and not committing them. It is looking at what God is doing inside us! Are we drawing closer to God, and knowing Him more? Are we becoming a vessel He can use?

1 Corinthians 6:12
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

We may be able to do this and that but not everything is beneficial. And we should not be enslaved and mastered by anything.
 
Living a holy life is not putting out a religious performance before others. It is living a life before God. In everything we do, we know He is watching us. And He is able to keep us from falling.

Jude 24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

God is holy and strong. He can help us not to fall. He can present us faultless before His holy presence. And He will give us great joy.
 
Living a holy life is a joyful one. There is great joy in the presence of God!

If interested, please listen to this song A Pure Heart.

 

Written on 6 September 2026