Lately, I feel that I have thought tirelessly about what it is to live a holy life and if I am doing that well. I think as followers of Jesus we “know” what it is to live a holy life, but the question is, are we actively striving to live out that life daily? I know the action part is where I stumble so often.

1 Peter 1:13-16 says, “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’”

Our biggest testimony is how we live. Living a holy life is planting seeds of the gospel and sharing who God is. With a young family, my heart longs for the little people in our home to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but my heart is also for all the lost—that they, too, come to know Jesus. If these are the desires of my heart, then I have to be mindful always of holy living. Holy living starts in our homes, but it filters into our workplaces, our social groups, and even the grocery store lines. We are planting seeds every day at moments we sometimes may not even realize. We are planting seeds with how we speak, how we dress, what we give our time to, our interactions with those around us, and the list goes on. We must remember that it is okay if we never see the fruits of what our holy living may produce. Seeing the fruit shouldn’t be the goal or what we are striving for. Living holy, as Christ is holy, should be our heart’s desire.

Tony Evans said, “Holiness is central to who God is. God’s perfect holiness is at the heart of His other attributes. Everything about Him is in a class by itself. And He calls His people to pursue holiness by seeking to please Him in every dimension of their lives.”

The word tells us to be holy is to be separate or set apart. We live a holy life by allowing the Lord to work in us, making inward and outward changes, so that we may imitate his high standard of living. We must be totally devoted to God, giving all we are to Him. We are called to stand out from the crowd, allowing God’s qualities in our lives to make us different. Our focus and priorities must be His. We must be holy and live out a holy life in order to plant seeds of the gospel and its life-changing power to further the kingdom. If we want heaven to be crowded, then we must actively do our part here in living out a holy life.