Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart ” who “see God.” CHAMBERS
When you read the word purity, is that something that you easily identify with? Do you think of yourself as ‘pure’? Or do thoughts of why you are not pure flood your mind. And why would God ‘intentionally’ not protect us from sinning? (As you read this, you are not aware of the time lapse between my words and thoughts .. As I write I am thinking .. Lord what is it that you want to say .. I must suppress my own thoughts, which have no eternal value, and give way to God .. sound like I think too much of myself? Probably do. But do you really believe that God would have a dialogue with you? With me? The answer is ‘yes’. That is what a personal relationship is about.)
Ok, back to the thought stream for today … It is not so much that I sin as a Christian, but that I am aware of and troubled by my sin that serves as a reminder to me that I have been bought with a price. My life is not my own. That does not mean that I am necessarily quick to confess that sin ( I might want to hide in the garden and grab a fig leaf), but confess it I will, eventually. You see, my heart beats for my God. When I am not in right relationship with the Him, nothing is right. I cannot find peace until I am right with Him. It is akin to marriage. If my wife and I are not seeing ‘eye to eye’ then nothing in my life seems right … now don’t confuse this with co-dependence. I am not co-dependent – at least I don’t think I am! …. There is a harmony between a man and woman .. God designed it … and when that harmony is disrupted .. it is like someone playing a guitar that is out of tune. You may recognize the lyrics, but the sound is just not right.
So it is with our life in Christ. To be in tune with God .. to ‘see’ Him, our hearts must be pure … 1 John 1:9 says God will cleanse us if we confess … meaning that we agree with God that we have sinned … (If God is omniscient .. which He is … He already knows .. we are just admitting it) When Jesus was washing Peter’s feet, Jesus told Peter that he was already clean .. Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean …… ." (John 13:10)
A common pitfall for us is that we begin to think that ‘staying right’ means that we have to live a perfect life and the way we do that is by working really hard to live right. We forget that our life is in Christ (Galatians 2:20) We live by faith. That we couldn’t be good enough before we were a Christian and we can’t be good enough – on our own – now. It is all Jesus …
I pray that you will meet with God today. But be sure to take you shoes off before you go through the door …. And please wash those stinky feet!
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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