Flourish Even More in 2024… in Purity – What Needs to be Pure?

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3 NKJV)

    As children of God we all hope to see Him as He is, so we take this passage seriously and work on purifying ourselves daily, so we can look like Him who is pure.

    Last week we learned of all that is pure:

• God (1 John 3:3)
• God’s words (Psalm 12:6), every word (Proverbs 30:5-6), they are very pure (Psalm 119:140)
• God’s commandment (Psalm 19:8)
• The waters of baptism (Hebrews 10:22)
• Wisdom from above (James 3:17)

    Pure means clean, untainted by impurities/evil, without fault so that means that God, His words, His commands, and His wisdom are all pure, clean, untainted by evil, and without fault. Think on that again for a moment: no sin can be in God’s presence (Psalm 5:4), His words and commands are for our good always (Deuteronomy 6:24-25), and His wisdom is a tree of life from which we will obtain unsullied guidance that will lead us home to eternal life with Him (Proverbs 3:13-26). It also means that the waters of baptism (Hebrews 10:22) are without fault and it is there that we are washed and made pure from all our sins; it is there that we become children of God and begin maintaining the purity God granted us.

    This week, let’s look at what needs to be pure:

1. WE DO! If we are children of God, we need to be pure (1 John 3:1-3, Psalm 24:3-5, 51:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, 1 Timothy 4:12) and we need to be teaching younger women, by word and example, to be pure and chaste (Titus 2:3-5).
2. Our souls. We purify our souls by obeying the truth and being born again (John 3:1-8, in the pure waters of baptism) of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:22-23) and we maintain that purity by confessing our sins to God whenever we stumble (1 John 1:8-10).
3. Our religion. How we serve God day to day is visible to others. Do we prove by our words, choices, and actions that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect? (Romans 12:12) We can, by loving and helping widows and orphans in their troubles – doing all we can for those who need help (James 1:27, 2 Corinthians 9:8).
4. Our conscience. We, like Paul, can serve God with a pure conscience (1 Timothy 5:2, 2 Timothy 1:3). When we trust that God has washed away our sins when we were baptized, we, too can serve Him with a pure, untainted conscience (Hebrews 10:19-23). If you need reassurance, please take time to carefully read the letter of 1 John –  when you sin, confess it to God and He will forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1:9), if you practice righteousness you are righteous (3:7), etc. You can know, you can have confidence, and you can have a clear conscience!
5. Our hearts. Our hearts are purified by faith (Acts 15:9, and consider Hebrews 11:6) and only the pure of heart will see God (Matthew 5:8), and loving one another as God commands is only accomplished when it is with a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22, think about Matthew 5:44-48), we cannot be double-minded and hope to be a benefit to God’s work (James 4:8, Romans 12:9). A pure heart is necessary to be a real help to our brethren who, alongside us, are fleeing youthful lusts and pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace – we need to be showing them what it looks like to call on the Lord (wholly reverence Him, lean on Him, and learn from Him) out of a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22).
6. Our words. Our words show others where our hearts are focused; we need to keep our hearts pure so our words will be too (Luke 6:43-45). The words of the pure are pleasant to the LORD (Proverbs 15:26) and we are to use our words to build others up (Ephesians 4:29-32) – pure words of love and humble help, showing sincere consideration for their souls (Proverbs 25:11-12).
7. Our minds. Our minds need to be pure (2 Peter 3:1) so we do not taint God’s pure words and commands, tweaking them to suit our impurities (Proverbs 16:2, 30:11-14) and so we aren’t led astray by the lies of the devil (John 8:43-45) or by teachers and preachers who don’t tell us the Truth (Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Galatians 1:6-10). We need to fill our minds daily with God and His pure words of guidance and instruction and keep our minds pure by being mindful of what we listen to, watch, read, and scroll (consider the things we are to think on, Philippians 4:8).
8. Our eyes. Our eyes need to be pure (Luke 11:34). Our eyes will always be open to find what we keep our mind focused on – for example: if you keep thinking about white vehicles, you’ll begin noticing them everywhere. If we keep thinking on evil desires our eyes will find opportunities to fulfill it (read and consider Psalm 101:3-4).
9. Our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, you are God’s, and not your own (1 Corinthians 6:18-19), we are to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) and use our bodies (every part of them, as seen above) to glorify God, not to pursue lusts (consider Matthew 5:27-30, this applies to women toward men as well, whether in reality, on screen, or in books/magazines). We need to be alert to our thoughts, words, and actions, being careful that there is not even a hint of impropriety (flirtations, lewd speech, etc.) or immorality (lust, fornication, etc.) in them (Ephesians 5:1-7). Our bodies are not for sexual immorality but for the Lord. Sexual relations are a blessing within marriage (Hebrews 13:4) and anything outside of the bounds of marriage is sin (1 Corinthians 6:13-18, also read and consider Colossians 3:1-17 and 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).

    God is pure, His Word is pure; this includes, of course, Jesus (John 1:1-5, 14) – we need to know God the Father so we can imitate Him as dear children (Ephesians 5:1), we need to know the Son and walk as He walked (1 Peter 2:20-24, 1 John 2:3-6). We need to learn of their purity and conform ourselves to it (Romans 8:29). We need to study and know God’s pure commands and abide in them, asking Him for wisdom when we are lacking (James 1:5, 3:13-17) so that we can easily see what is pure (good) and what is impure (evil, Hebrews 5:14).

    Are you ready to flourish even more in 2024 in purity?  Our pure and holy God has provided us with all that we need to be wholly pure in His sight – let’s reverence God and His provision enough to inspect our hearts, minds, and habits, and to make the necessary changes to maintain our purity each and every day!  

You can do it! So can I!!