Jesus Gave His Life to Purify Us, Let's Give Our Lives In Maintaining That Purity

 “…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing 

of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 

who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us 

from every lawless deed and purify for Himself 

His own special people, zealous for good works.”  

(Titus 2:13-14 NKJV)

    Jesus died for us, so that we could be free from the bondage of sin and be His own special people, pure and holy, and desirous to do good for others as we daily consider what He has done for us!

    The very blood Jesus shed on the cross cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7). We come into spiritual contact with that blood when we are buried with Him in baptism (Romans 6:1-14, Acts 2:38-39; 22:16). When we are baptized into Christ, we become members of His body, we become His own special people who belong to Him (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) and we begin our walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4) because He has given us a new start! Jesus has cleansed us from our sins and made us pure!

    So how do we maintain that purity? I believe Colossians 3 has the answer!

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things 

which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” 

(verses 1-3 NKJV)

    When we keep in mind that Jesus died for us to make us pure we will want to seek those things above and we will readily obey God’s command to rid ourselves of these earthly desires: fornication (any sexual relations outside of marriage), uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness (Colossians 3:5) as well as anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying (Colossians 3:8-9) because we will see them for what they are: lawless deeds that will only lead us away from Him.

    When we determine to seek those things above and keep ourselves pure from sin we will want to wear the beautiful traits that God wants us to put on: tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, patience with others, forgiveness, and love (Colossians 3:12-14), something we can only do when focused wholly on Him!

    How do we keep our minds pure from earthly things and focused on heavenly things?

• By letting the peace of God rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15) – joy in God! Give your worries to Him, so you can share in His peace (Philippians 4:6-8)

• By being thankful (Colossians 3:15, 17) – keep your eyes open to your blessings (Psalm 68:19) and give thanks to God always (Ephesians 5:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:18)!
  

• By letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly with all wisdom (Colossians 3:16) – read and study the Bible, it is God’s instructions for you (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and ask Him freely for wisdom (James 1:5)!

• By teaching and carefully warning others through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16) – teach others, warn others in loving ways (Ephesians 4:29-32; 5:19)

• By singing with grace in your heart to the Lord (Colossians 3:16) – let your heart sing out in praise every day (Psalm 92:1-2, 146:1-2)!

• By doing all that you do in the name of Jesus (Colossians 3:17) – always remember Whom you serve when you are busy doing good works (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 3:8, 14)

    Yes, we can and will make mistakes, we will stumble, impurities will get in and sully our heart/mind/soul, but because Jesus gave His life so we can be pure, we need to take serious action in identifying the impurities, confess them to God so that He may cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)!

    Jesus gave His life for us! Let’s determine to give our lives to Him! Let’s do  all we can to maintain that purity and hold onto that hope which He gave His life to provide and keeping His sacrifice always in mind let us selflessly give our time to help others so that they too may see the Light and learn of Jesus and the redemption found only in Him!

Set your mind on things above!!

You can do it! So can I!!

 

Using God's Light to Achieve and Maintain Purity

 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 

Cleanse your hands, you sinners; 

and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” 

(James 4:8 NKJV)

    Drawing near to God means drawing closer to the very source of Light that illuminates all that we think and do (John 3:19-21). Many “Christians” seem content to imagine themselves on the outer edges of the Light; content to acknowledge God, pray to Him when they’re desperate, and attend weekly church services, but they don’t prefer to draw closer to Him, to dig deeper into His Word so they can learn to obey Him better. I say “imagine” because quite often they are not on the outer edges of the Light, but rather on the outer edges of the darkness, satisfying their desire to live like the world while fooling themselves in thinking they are followers of Christ (consider 1 John 2:9, Romans 12:2).

    God wants us to joy in His marvelous Light (Psalm 36:9)! He wants us to draw near to Him in His Light and allow it to show us our faults and errors so we can remove/change them and thus purify ourselves just as He is pure (1 John 3:3)!

    Sinners who have chosen to draw near to God must ‘cleanse their hands’ – meaning wash their hands of their past deeds; turn away from them and no longer seek the ways they used to follow (Luke 9:62, Hebrews 10:36-39; 11:24-26).  When we are buried with Christ (in baptism) we rise as a new person, a person who is to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:1-14), a person created according to God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:20-24), who seeks to do only God’s will and no longer our own.

    Christians, those who have already been baptized for the remission of their sins, also have a command in this James passage – we, who can still be double-minded, must purify our hearts!

    What does it mean to be double-minded?

    Well, it can mean that we say all the right things and appears to be a faithful follower to those on the outside but inside our home or inside our own mind we are fuming, angry, vindictive, judgmental, hateful and hating. It can mean we bless God and moments later curse men (these things out not to be, James 3:9-10). It can mean we follow God but allow fear to override our faith, letting anxieties take over (God can help, please take your fears to Him, Philippians 4:6-8). It can mean we pray for something but then doubt whether God will even provide (consider James 1:2-8).

    Do you see yourself in any of these scenarios? I know I have found myself among them at times! It is vital to draw near to God and allow His light to shine on us and in us so that we can see the shadowy areas that need to be removed!

    Let us do all that we can to work daily at purifying our hearts, so we can be sincere and true in all that we think and do!

You can do it! So can I!!

 

Purifying Ourselves By Thinking on Pure Things

“…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, 

whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, 

whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. 

If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy

 – meditate on these things.”  (Philippians 4:8 NKJV)

    How can we purify ourselves? By meditating – purposely thinking on – pure things!

    What is pure to think on?

    Consider these verses for your answer:

“The words of the LORD are pure words, 

like silver tired in the furnace of earth, 

purified seven times.” (Psalm 12:6 NKJV)

 

“Every word of God is pure; 

He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” 

(Proverbs 30:5 NKJV)

 

 “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; 

the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…” 

(Psalm 19:8 NKJV)

 

“Your word is very pure; therefore 

Your servant loves it.” (Psalm 119:140 NKJV)

    Fill your mind with God’s Word, His Truth; recall it to your mind and think on it through the day. Keep it at the forefront of your thoughts so much so that it becomes a guide and help to you, alerting you to things that are impure by comparison, allowing you to steer clear and avoid pitfalls.

    Train yourself to recognize and stop negative thinking and replace those thoughts with God’s pure Word. Memorize bible verses that you can recite to help you gain control of your thoughts and avoid temptation.

Here are some examples of helpful verses to memorize:

“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, 

faith, love, peace with those who call on 

the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV)

. . . . . 

 

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 

so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him 

and established in the faith, as you have been taught, 

abounding in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV)

. . . . . 

 

“See then that you walk carefully, not as fools but as wise, 

redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand 

what the will of the Lord is.”  

(Ephesians 5:15-17 NKJV) 

. . . . . 

  

“Do not be overcome by evil, 

but overcome evil with good.” 

(Romans 12:21 NKJV)

~ Please add more verses that are helpful in your comment below! ~

    If you truly want to purify yourself you must turn to God and seek His purity, His Truth, found in His Word, the Bible!! Read it daily, meditate on it always so you can obey it in its purity!!

You can do it! So can I!!

 

Blessed are the Pure in Heart

 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” 

(Matthew 5:8 NKJV)

    The scripture we looked at last week – 1 John 3:1-3 – stated that because we have hope as God’s children to see Him as He is, we work at purifying ourselves because God is pure.

    Here in Matthew, we have an excerpt from one of Jesus’ first sermons stating the same thing – those who are pure in heart will be blessed because they will see God.

    Let’s look at what “pure in heart” actually means.

    Pure in heart does not mean having clean and healthy arteries in the bodily organ that pumps our blood. The biblical heart is our mind, the fountain of our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, purposes, and endeavours. It is the ‘inner man’ that we work daily to purify and keep from evil influence; the “new man” that was “created according to God in true righteousness and holiness’ (Ephesians 4:20-24) when we were baptized into Christ (Romans 6:1-13).     

    Keeping our heart pure means that we keep ourselves, our very thoughts, from corrupt desires, we do our utmost to avoid sin and sinful thoughts. We live clean, innocent, upright lives by serving God with utter sincerity, singleness of heart; making our loyalty and faithfulness to God our #1 priority. It means we wholly devote ourselves to obeying Him.

“Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God 

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”” 

(Matthew 22:37 NKJV) 

    Take an honest look at what you look at (or do) each day because it all stores up in your heart. That crude, unwholesome humour you chuckle at online (and then even share for others to read), those posts with coarse language and/or swearing, those posts that encourage you to hold on to anger and resentment by justifying it according to man’s wisdom. What about those “friends” who love nothing more than gossiping and backbiting, or the books/movies/TV shows full of filthy language, adultery, and fornication? The list, unfortunately, can go on and on. Maybe it is necessary to truly visualize Jesus sitting right beside us while we scroll/post online, watch TV, and have a conversation – would we still make the same choices we’ve been making? God does see/hear everything we do/say, so let’s do all we can to scrub our hearts clean of bad influences!

    It will be worth every effort to read, study, and apply God’s Word to our lives each day! To have the blessed hope of one day being admitted into God’s presence in heaven, to be privileged to see our beloved Father and Creator should motivate us to try harder and do more to purify our hearts and keep our hearts pure each moment we are blessed with!!

You can do it! So can I!!

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? 

Or who may stand in His holy place? 

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, 

who has not lifted his soul up to an idol, not sworn deceitfully. 

He shall receive blessing from the LORD, 

and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” 

 (Psalm 24: 3-5 NKJV)