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!!