God the Father knew you long ago and chose you to live holy lives with the Spirit’s help so that you are obedient to Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood.
1 Peter 1:2
G od chose you. He chose you! Can you believe it? You didn’t just show up at his doorstep, all wet and stinky; he chose you and made you his own. But why? What was his purpose for picking you? According to 1 Peter 1:2, it was for you to be holy. A lot of young people want a purpose in life. They want to know why they were created. But you don’t have to crave the answer anymore, because it’s right here, written in this book: you were chosen “to live holy lives with the Spirit’s help so that you are obedient to Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2).
You were created to be holy. Wow, betcha didn’t know that. How’s it going? Feeling holy today? If you aren’t, don’t fear. You can achieve your purpose; in fact, you will achieve it. See, when God says you were meant to be holy, he isn’t expecting the impossible. That would be cruel. That would be like asking a six-year-old to figure out a problem using the Pythagorean theorem and then punishing her when she can’t do it. Crazy! But God isn’t crazy. He’s got a plan and he’s part of it.
First Peter 1:2 tells you how you’ll get it done: “with the Spirit’s help.” All you have to do is be willing to let his Spirit work with you, teach you, and guide you. And the way you start to do that is through the process of spiritual discipline—prayer, confession, repentance, study, and more prayer. Holiness can be yours, your life can be changed, and you can be a new creation by trusting God with your life and being willing to do whatever he says, no matter how hard it might sound. If you’re ready for that, then ask him for the power to do it, and believe that he will help you. Easy as one, two, three.