Set apart, not holier than thou

"But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" Peter is quoting Leviticus, the old law given to a people God had just brought out of Egypt. Now he hands the same words to believers scattered across five provinces, with no temple near them and every reason to blend in.

In the session, Flatcap said we have a bad picture of the word. We hear holy as "holier than thou," superior to everyone else. He reached for the older Hebrew sense instead: "set apart, distinct and different." And he heard it as an invitation, not a burden: "So our ability to do it is already given to us by the invitation to do it."

That matters for anyone serving in digital spaces. Holiness online is not the quiet superiority of people who keep their distance from the chat. It is being recognisably different inside it: in how we welcome people, what we will and won't join in, and how we treat the person who is hard to love. Set apart is still present.

Today, ask where God is inviting you to be different rather than better. Maybe it is a habit you used to share with the crowd, or a tone you slip into when nobody seems to be watching. God does not call you to something he will not equip you for. The invitation already carries what you need to answer it.