'As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. '
-1 Peter 1:14-2:3
In his first letter Peter is calling his people to a new vision of Mission in the Kingdom of God. We have seen that his first concern was to orient his readers to the way the Gospel works, the way salvation works. Its all about Hope, he reminds them. God has you on a journey shaped by the work of Jesus. Be future people. Now he calls them (and us) to live as though we mean it. But this is not just a task, some new moral code. We are born for this - reborn for this - our DNA has been altered. God’s holiness is no longer a distant exquisite quality – it can be our lived reality as those reborn into His family.
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