In the Old Testament, one of the constant commands of God to the people is that they are holy. They are told over and over again to be holy, as God is holy.

That is the definitive revelation of who God is in the Old Testament. He is holy. And as a God that is holy, he expects His people to be holy.

Gulp. That’s a pretty big requirement. To be holy. That’s a tough thing for them. And, a tough thing for us.

But, before we talk about how it’s something that we can’t do, let’s first think. What is it? What does it mean? To be holy, what does that mean?

In short, to be holy is to be set apart. To be different. The people of God are supposed to be different. Different from the world. Different from culture. Different.

Not perfect, mind you. None of us are perfect. The church is not perfect. No one, except Jesus is perfect in action. That doesn’t mean, though, that we are not supposed to be holy. We are supposed to be different.

Listen, though, to what the people of God say in 1 Samuel this morning:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

The people wanted a king. Why? To be like the other nations. God’s plan was for them to be holy. To be different. To be set apart.

What did they want? What did they desire?

A king.

Why?

To be like other nations. To be like everyone else.

And in that, they were no longer different. They were no longer set apart. They wanted to be like everyone else.

Today, what about us? Are we holy? And I’m not asking are we perfect. I’m asking are we different? Are we different from culture? Is there something about us is that is different? Set apart? Dedicated to God?

God told His people in the Old Testament to be holy as He is holy. He desires the same for us today.

Today, may we be different. May we be different from the world we live in. Today, may we be holy.