“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”-Psalm 24: 3 &4
There is a kind of purity that draws you closer to God. The extent of God’s holiness makes him incapable of interacting with iniquity / uncleanliness. It is understandable that being human and having to face daily battles, we may fall short on the mark of purity / holiness that has been set for us but that is not all there is to it. Apart from steering clear of impure activities, speech, desires and thoughts, a major part of having clean hands and a pure heart is recognizing impurity and asking God for forgiveness and cleansing. God desires intimate relations with us, but we limit him with our nature and its impurity thereof. We love and serve a merciful God! In places where we are inadequate, He fills in, and becomes our adequacy and perfects us in the process.
My True Love lived a pure and blameless life in all his 33 years on the earth and especially in his 3 years of active ministry. His pure thoughts and lifestyle rubbed off those around Him when he was on earth. He has given me access to this purity through His word and through the example He left in it. A lot of times, I put a lot of effort in trying to steer clear of impurity, but I am constantly reminded of how I do not have the ability to do that on my own.
I once decided to embark on a week of fasting. It was 6:00am to 6:00pm each day, to learn more about purity and to purify myself, and to just become more conversant with the idea. It wasn’t until the 4th day that I realized that I was barely getting anything done. So as embarrassing as this was, I spent most of the day asleep and when I woke up, I would read the bible briefly (about 30% of the time), pray about 40% of the time and then, plan what food I’ll eat to break the fast. Believe it or not, the best part of each day was breaking the fast. I started the fifth day of fasting, sadly noting that there was nothing pure about my intensions when I set out to observe the fast and during the fast itself. It was self-gratifying and clearly to appease my conscience – I could mark it off my to-do list; ‘work towards being pure, tick!’
When God is described as holy, the Word is referring to his very character. He is whole and pure in each part of Him. His wholeness makes Him holy. No one can be as whole as God is, but through our life experiences and as we grow to know more about Him, our minds and hearts are churned to be more like His and to be more like Him.
Purity is more than abstaining from sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, negative emotions, or immoral desires and thoughts. It is consciously making an effort to keep God first in everything, making sure we honour him with our choices and actions. It is not always a easy streak, but it is genuinely the heart that matters. Again, action out of fear is not sincere. Action out of love and pure devotion is; and that is what pleases God.
This Christmas, I am reminded of the pureness of God and how purity is expected of me, not in one aspect of my life, but in every part.
Have a pure and Merry Christmas!!!
See you Tomorrow!!!
Thank you for stopping by!!!
🤗 🤗 🤗