Loving One Another With A Pure Heart

 “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth 

through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, 

love one another fervently with a pure heart…”  

(1 Peter 1:22 NKJV)

    It is God who purifies our souls from all uncleanness when we obey the Truth by being baptized (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and then as Christians, when we stumble, we can pray to God, confess our sin, and He will cleanse us (our souls) from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10).

    Having a pure heart is OUR responsibility! We must determine daily to maintain the garden of our heart: tilling the hardened areas, making them tender and receptive to the Truth, clearing the stones of offense, pulling out the thorns of distraction (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23), and carefully tending the seed of Truth (Luke 8:11), nurturing it through obedience (James 1:25), continued study (Acts 17:11), and prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17); allowing it to purify our hearts. And just as actual plants purify our air, giving us a better quality of life, so too will God’s holy Word!!

    When we are baptized, not only do we have our souls purified by God but we also become part of the body of Christ, we are now members of His body with all others who have obeyed the Truth (1Corinthians 12:12-14, Acts 2:47, Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:15-16)! We have brethren! Brethren who flee the same things we flee, who pursue the same things we pursue – consider 2 Timothy 2:22 – and our need to have a pure heart not only benefits us but will benefit them as well!

    God commands us to sincerely love our brethren, without selfish motives or hypocrisy (consider 1 John 3:17-19) and this can only be accomplished with the next command “love one another fervently with a pure heart.” It is only when we work to keep our heart pure that we can be sincere in our love and sincerity in our love will lead to fervency - loving to our full potential! – doing all we can to help, encourage, guide, and benefit our brothers and sisters in Christ!

    If God has purified your soul, do all that is necessary to purify your heart and to keep it pure! Discover the better quality of life that God’s Word provides when we let it take firm root in our heart as we hear and obey it!  Love your brethren with a love so sincere that it will motivate you to keep your heart pure, in doing this you may just encourage your brethren to do the same! We are all in this together and it is only with pure hearts that we can reach our full potential!!

You can do it! So can I!!