“Rabbi Avraham Pam explains: If a Jew looks around him and sees a world of immorality, deceit, and fraud, if he often encounters underhandedness and an insatiable pursuit of material goals, he can easily rationalize to himself and say, “With the performance of even one mitzvah, I have already achieved a much greater status than those in the secular world.”  He might even become smug with the feeling that he has achieved a degree of holiness far beyond those who do no mitzvos at all.  Therefore, God says, “You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your God, am holy (Leviticus 19.2).  Don’t compare your holiness to the holiness of others; you are children of God and are answerable to a higher standard.  Be holy, for I am holy.  Use me, not the nations of the world, as a barometer, and then you will know what is expected of you.”  ~ The Pirkei Avos Treasury