Makin' us holy

I have been reading some in Leviticus and God is constantly calling us to be holy as He is holy (Lev 19:1- Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy).  Leviticus 20:7-8 says:

    "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God.  Keep my decrees and follow
      them.  I am the Lord, who makes you holy."

As I was walking today I was thinking about these verses and it felt like the pieces of a puzzle were being put together.  We as humans are made in God's image- He is our creator and being made in His image we are called to be like Him.  Therefore he emphasizes our need to *be holy like He is holy* because he is the one who made us and he made us to be holy.  In order to live to the fullest and to be complete and satisfied, we must live as holy.  That being said, it is still our choice whether we will live as holy or not... He shares with Moses many ways that we can become unholy or unclean and calls us to stay away from those things which make us unclean.  Some of the things he references make perfect sense- and some seem kind of crazy, but it is because God knew the consequences and dangers of those things and the effects they could have on His people, even when they did not understand.

He isn't calling us to be holy to make us miserable- but instead to protect us from the things that we think we want- but that can lead to our destruction both spiritually and physically.  After thousands of years of seeing His people fail tat being holy- not one was ever completely holy, he sent his son who lived a perfectly holy life.  Jesus. God as man, the only one who lived a holy life because we couldn't do it- and we still can't because of our flesh.  But because of Jesus' life, and His sacrifice which took on our sins, we can be forgiven and washed clean-- made holy.  God is the one who made us in His image, calls us to be holy, recognizes that we can't, and therefore makes us holy.  Wow!  We are still called to be holy, but when we fall short, which we all will, God is there to make us holy.

Be holy as I am holy... I am the one who makes you holy.