03/26/2023
My thoughts this morning are on purity. What does it mean to be pure of heart, and how is it possible to reach this state of righteousness? By becoming pure we know that we will see God, so let's explore this subject.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8 KJV
When we go to the grocery store we often read labels that say such things as "Pure Maple Syrup", or the like. By the law of our land this doesn't require those products to be 100% pure; they might contain just a small percentage of the substance being sold. On the other hand, when scripture says pure... it is the real deal... 100% with no doubt.
I was reading Oswald Chambers this morning and he was writing of purity. He wrote of it as being much like forgiveness in that it is a product of God's grace. In as much as we are saved by grace, we are also made pure as a result of that same grace. Listen to what he wrote…
"Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity.... God makes us pure by His sovereign grace.... Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the purity God gives us by His grace." - Oswald Chambers
So Chambers is telling us that purity isn't something we can reach on our own... it requires the grace of God, but we can do certain things that increase our purity in as much as we are able. First we must establish and maintain a relationship with God through Jesus, then we should obey the commandments and live our lives in love; with our focus ever on Christ and the Father. James tells us this in scripture...
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
James 1:27 KJV
Of course, all of this requires prayer in support of God's grace and forgiveness. When we pray we should ask for purity (a clean heart) as well as forgiveness. These attributes keep us doing those things in practice that God intended for us to do through His Word.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalms 51:10 KJV
Yet, we know that this will be a battle within ourselves until our final breath, or Jesus returns. However, the wonderful thing about purity is that it is a gift of God through grace, and that if we do the other things... prayer, love, living in the Word, obeying God's commandments... purity will be imparted to us through our belief in Jesus.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
1 John 3:2-3 KJV
We seek purity through our faith in Jesus Christ. We obtain it by grace, even as we are told in scripture that we obtain salvation by grace. God doesn't intend to set some high bar and walk away from us as we struggle to reach it... He has provided us a way to become pure, and a way to salvation, and they are both through His Son Jesus Christ.
“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Ephesians 2:7-8 KJV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your grace in my life and your loving me enough to send your own Son to die for my salvation. Forgive me Father for all of my sins, through His suffering, blood, death, and resurrection. I deserved nothing Jesus did for me, and yet your grace abounded in Him for me. My salvation and purity are your gifts to me and weren't bought with even a speck of my own doing. You are gracious beyond my ability to fathom, or repay... your grace and mercy are without limit. Lord, increase my purity even as you do my faith; let my eyes be on you always, and my mouth praise you eternally for you are my God... now and ever more.
Rich Forbes