Growing up in the Sutton household, my brothers and I knew we were set apart from our peers. We were strongly instructed by our parents that we were held to a different standard of living than our friends. In other words, we were expected to live by our parent’s rules even if our friends did not agree. We were not perfect children by far, but in the most practical sense of the word, we were holy (or “set apart”) because of our relationship with our parents.

Paul says to the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 17, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” There is a clear expectation that when we are made new in Christ we will act and think in a different manner than those who do not believe. Paul further challenges the Ephesians that as they walk in holiness, they will put off the old self, a self “corrupted by its deceitful desires” (v. 22) and put on the new self, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (v. 23).

In the Bible, the words righteous and holy are used to describe who God is: “The holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts” (Isa. 5:16). “For you alone are holy…your righteous acts have been revealed” (Rev. 15:4). We are called to be like Him. The Apostle Peter, quoting from Leviticus 11:44, writes, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Peter describes God’s people as “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9). We are a holy people not because we are perfect, but because of our relationship with God.

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