"Holy" is one of those words we generally associate with the "stained glass ghetto" — a word only "church folks" use around church buildings. That may be true, but it's still a great concept. Most kids know that you don't eat hot dogs and potato chips on your grandmother's china. Grandmother's china is reserved for "special company" or "special occasions." Hot dogs are for paper plates. China is for special events and occasions — special moments with special people we want to remember as special. When God is calling us to be holy, he's calling us to be china in a paper-plate world — something special just for him, and as Peter emphasizes, someone special who lives like him.

Holy LORD, God Almighty, I come before you knowing how great the distance is between your holiness and my commonness. I thank you for making me holy through the sacrifice of Jesus and for sending your Holy Spirit to live inside me, making me a holy temple where you dwell (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Please receive my life today as a holy offering to you. I pray in the name of Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of my faith, who has made me holy by your grace (Hebrews 2:10, 12:2; Colossians 1:21-23). Amen.