Well, there is a term, a category, significant and important, that has sadly almost completely fallen out of usage in human culture. The abandonment of this category has had untold and tragic consequences. The term is 'holy.'
Think about this for a moment. You never hear the word 'holy' on the news. You seldom hear it in politics, education, entertainment, government, on the street. Yet holy is the standard for living for every human being who God has ever given breath. Everyone was designed to quest for holiness. That is what Peter makes very clear in this passage:
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
If holy is the standard, then God is the standard because He alone is the Holy One, perfect in every way.
I remember when I was a young kid going to a private Lutheran School, and we were using Luther's Small Catechism. There was a question, "How is God holy?" I love this answer. In everything He does. God is perfectly holy, all the time, in every situation, and in every way. That's the standard.
Now if you don't find that overwhelming and discouraging, you're not getting it. Think how utterly distant that standard is from all of us. I wish I could say that in God's eyes, everything I think, everything I desire, everything I say, everything I choose, everything I do, is holy in every way. But I can't, yet that's the standard, "Be holy, as I am holy."
Now, here's one thing it means. We just have to stop comparing ourselves to one another. The problem with comparing yourself to another human being is you're always able to find someone who's worse off than you are. Comparison to other human beings is a quick road to self-righteousness and self-congratulation and self-aggrandizement.
When God stands as your standard, it's deeply humbling; it's deeply convicting, and it's deeply revealing of how far you are away from what God wants. I think of how quickly a flash of irritation will come into my mind, even if I don't express it, how much I can think about things that I just should not be thinking about.
You see, there's grace in this call because this call of holiness is meant to bring you to the end of yourself, that's its purpose. And in bringing you to the end of yourself, it drives you toward God and toward His forgiving and empowering grace.
Listen, as long as you trust yourself, as long as you think you can pull it off, as long as you think you're okay, grace doesn't mean anything to you. There's grace in the impossibility of this call because it reveals my inability, it reveals my hopelessness, it reveals how deep my need is for forgiving and transforming grace. You see, this call is like the call of every one of God's commands; every command to us is accompanied by His grace. He not only calls you to something, but He gives you the grace to do it. "Be holy, as I am holy!"
