Holy Scripture uses more than one word to indicate the object or aim of our calling, but none more frequently than what Peter speaks of here--God has called us _to be holy_ as He is holy. Paul addresses believers twice as 'called to be _holy_' (Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2). 'God called us', he says, 'not for uncleanness, but _in sanctification_' (1 Thess. iv. 7). When he writes, 'The God of peace _sanctify_ you wholly,' he adds, 'Faithful is He which _calleth_ you, who also will do it' (1 Thess. v. 24). The calling itself is spoken of as 'a _holy_ calling.' The eternal purpose of which the calling is the outcome, is continually also connected with holiness as its aim. 'He hath _chosen_ us in Him, that we should be _holy_ and without blame' (Eph. i. 4). 'Whom God _chose_ from the beginning unto _salvation in sanctification_' (2 Thess. ii. 12). '_Elect_ according to the foreknowledge of the Father, through _sanctification_ of the Spirit' (1 Pet. i. 2). The call is the unveiling of the purpose that the Father from eternity had set His heart upon: that we should be holy. It needs no proof that it is of infinite importance to know aright what God has called us to. A misunderstanding here may have fatal results. You may have heard that God calls you to salvation or to happiness, to receive pardon or to obtain heaven, and never noticed that all these were subordinate. It was to 'salvation _in sanctification_,' it was to Holiness in the first place, as the element in which salvation and heaven are to be found. The complaints of many Christians as to lack of joy and strength, as to failure and want of growth, are simply owing to this--the place God gave Holiness in His call they have not given it in their response. God and they have never yet come to an agreement on this. No wonder that Paul, in the chapter in which he had spoken to the Ephesians of their being 'chosen to be holy' prays for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God to be given to believers, that they might know 'the hope of their _calling_' (i. 17, 18). Let all of us, who feel that we have too little realized that we are called to Holiness, pray this prayer. It is just what we need. Let us ask God to show us how, as He who hath called us is Himself holy, so we are to be holy too; our calling is a holy calling, a calling before and above everything, to Holiness. Let us ask Him to show us what Holiness is, His Holiness first, and then our Holiness; to show us how He has set His heart upon it as the one thing He wants to see in us, as being His own image and likeness; to show us too the unutterable blessedness and glory of sharing with Christ in His Holiness. Oh! that God by His Spirit would teach us what it means that we are called to be holy as He is holy. We can easily conceive what a mighty influence it would exert.