It is not easy being a Christian. In fact, many of the things that Christians are supposed to do seem impossible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world; we have to be more righteous than the Pharisees and teachers of the law, we must not get angry with a brother or sister, we must settle matters with adversaries, and so on. In the first chapter of his first letter, Peter instructs us to do more impossible things:
Get your minds ready, be level-headed, and put all your hope in the grace that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not keep following the desires you used to have when you were ignorant. Be holy in everything you do, just like the holy one who called you, because it is written, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
How can anyone possibly “be holy in everything you do”? This requires perfection, and, in spite of what some self-righteous people might seem to claim, nobody is perfect. However, there is a way to become perfect in God’s eyes. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins. If we trust in him, his perfection overcomes all of our imperfections. It is only by accepting Jesus’s sacrifice for us that we can become perfect and meet the standards that God requires of us.