A Call to Holy Living

¹³ So prepare your minds for service and have self-control. All your hope should be for the gift of grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ comes again. ¹⁴ In the past you did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted. But now you are children of God who obey. So do not live as you lived in the past. ¹⁵ But be holy in all that you do, just as God is holy. God is the One who called you. ¹⁶ It is written in the Scriptures: “You must be holy, because I am holy.”^[a]

¹⁷ You pray to God and call him Father. And this Father judges each man’s work equally. So while you are here on earth, you should live with respect for God. ¹⁸ You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way. You got that way of living from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, but not with something that ruins like gold or silver. ¹⁹ You were bought with the precious blood of the death of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. ²⁰ Christ was chosen before the world was made. But he was shown to the world in these last times for you. ²¹ You believe in God through Christ. God raised Christ from death and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are in God.

²² Now you have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers. So love each other deeply with all your heart. ²³ You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever. ²⁴ The Scripture says,

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Jesus Is the Living Stone

2 So then, get rid of all evil and all lying. Do not be a hypocrite. Do not be jealous or speak evil of others. Put all these things out of your life. ² As newborn babies want milk, you should want the pure and simple teaching. By it you can mature in your salvation. ³ For you have already examined and seen how good the Lord is.