Psalm 101:3
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

The holiness of God is something that leaves us in awe.  It is hard to comprehend His purity and sinlessness and complete and total righteousness.  And we look at Jesus in the pages of Scripture and see the life that He lived, a perfect life of obedience without sin.  And then we look at ourselves and see something so much less than that.  Our imperfection is glaring.  Our weakness is obvious.  Our unrighteousness shows up all too often.  So when we see that contrast, maybe sometimes we forget that we are called to be holy.  We are called to be like Christ.

And though we will never reach a state of sinless perfection during our time on Earth, there are choices we have to make in pursuit of holiness.  We must choose to have no part of wickedness.  We don’t look upon it.  We don’t go near it.  We don’t participate in it.  We don’t approve of it.  We can’t let it stick to us.  But we must make the decision to honor God’s call to be separated from the world, to be different, to forsake sin.  We must refuse to blend in and instead pursue, deliberately, a godly and holy life.

We can’t keep compromising with the world and making excuses for ourselves and dabbling here and there in sin and telling ourselves it’s okay.  But it takes a strong commitment to stay away from it in every way, shape, and form and to let it have no part and no place in our lives.  And if we keep our eyes upon the Holy One instead, that pursuit of holiness truly will become the desire of our hearts.  We’ll be able to leave behind those other things with no second thoughts.  We won’t be drawn away by something less than what God wants for us.

It’s not the easiest kind of life to live, but it is the most fulfilling.  Holiness is not a popular pursuit in our society today, but it is worth striving for.  So may we be willing to let go of some of those other things.  May we be willing to stop chasing after some of those lesser pursuits.  Let’s forsake what we have to.  Let’s keep our distance where we need to.  It’s a choice we make whether we will or we won’t allow the wrong things to be part of our lives.  It is up to us to answer God’s call to be holy.