Passing on Holiness | Morning Routine Daily Devotional for February 1

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” — Leviticus 19:1-2 ESV

Today’s passage comes amid the many laws that God gave His people under Moses’ leadership. One of the things that makes the book of Leviticus difficult to read is that so many of the laws that were applicable to ancient Israel feel very foreign to us as Christians today. But the most important lesson we learn from Leviticus is made clear here: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

To be holy is to be set apart. God is absolutely set apart—there is none like Him. We tend to associate holiness with good behavior, which is also true. God is certainly holy, set apart, in his deeds. But holiness extends to thinking and to character. And God tells us that we are to be holy as He is holy. Like God, we are to be set apart, as Christians, in our character. Pursuing worldly things as if our earthly life is all there is, no longer serves as our motivation. The Apostle Peter reminded his Christian audience of this very thing: “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pt 1:15). 

One obvious application of this passage is to personally heed the call to be holy in your life. But today, let’s consider this command not simply as individuals, but as the body of Christ: Are we, the Church, pursuing holiness in word and deed and thought? And, even more importantly, are we preparing the next generation to be holy, to walk in the character of the Lord? At the Herzog Foundation, we desire to see the next generation of young people as leaders who have been set apart—to think, speak and behave differently from the world. Similarly, as you pour into the next generation in your family, school, and church, may obeying God’s command be our motivation. God instructs His people to be holy as He is holy!