The first reading is called, "The privilege of holiness", not something we would naturally think. For most of us it would be, "The annoyance of holiness" or the "hard work of Holiness" so why is it a privilege?
The chapter goes on to talk about all the amazing things that God will do on behalf of the Israelites which are related to being a holy people. of course, like most people, we want the privileges without the responsibilities but if we realise that bad things don't happen so much because God sends them but they happen anyway and we only avoid them by following God. The result is called holiness, the effect of us being in relationship with God. That is why we cannot have blessing without holiness and rather than spend most of our lives trying to balance the two, we should understand what God has for us and keep pressing into it, "throwing off everything that hinders".
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