A Pure Heart

-

“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’?”

Proverbs 20:9

 

No one who falls into the mud thinks that they can clean themselves up without water and soap and a clean change of clothes. Yet, there is a brand of foolishness which toys with the idea that outside help is not needed to clean up the sin in a person’s heart. Even more foolish is the notion that the heart is basically good instead of basically evil for it denies the reality that sinful actions stem from what’s in a person’s heart.

Into this “enlightened” worldview the Bible speaks a word of truth. “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) The wise understand that this is the reality of the human sinful nature. The wise know that there is nothing they can do to change the condition of their heart to make it pure. The wise know, however, that Jesus can.

It’s a matter of believing it in our heart, of being fully assured that Jesus can and will clean our hearts when we ask for him to forgive us. That’s when we can “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22) No one can say, ‘I have made my heart pure,’ but the one who places their full trust and relies on Christ Jesus to forgive them of their sins can say, ‘Jesus has made my heart pure.’

Lord Jesus, I know that I cannot clean up my heart and make it pure, but I believe that you can. I believe that by dying in my place you have earned the right to forgive my sins. Forgive me. Make my heart clean. Open up the way for me to draw near to you. Thank you for your indescribable gift! Amen!


Devoted to keeping Jesus Christ the main thing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Self-Control

-
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28   A city which builds walls around it does so to protect itself from its enemies. If the wall is in disrepair or broken down, it leaves itself open to attack. There is no longer any reasonable sense of security. The comparison to a man without self-control follows. He has no reason to believe that he will be protected from his enemies. The interesting twist is that his enemies come from within instead of without. His lack of self-control keeps him unprotected from the evil that is within his heart. The things that Jesus talked about in Mark 7:21-22, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” When we receive Jesus as the Lord of our life, he begins a work in our hearts which puts a hold on the evil that comes from within. Self-control is a frui
Read more

Train Up A Child

-
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6   When our son was young, we had this verse displayed in his room. The picture that went with it was a train. Although that was a play on words, there is something to be said about how an actual train works that is insightful in our walk with Christ. A train does not deviate from predetermined tracks, unless there is a bad accident. The train is not like a car that can choose its’ own route. In order to go anywhere it must have the two rails to guide it. In the same way our spiritual direction has been pre-determined by the Lord. If we are to go anywhere, spiritually speaking, it must be in line with the Word of God and the Spirit of God. We must have both. The Pharisees had the Word of God, but their hearts were hard. They were not led by God’s Spirit. The Corinthians were led by the Spirit, but the apostle Paul had many words of instruction for them because they were no
Read more

Strongholds

-
“A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.” Proverbs 21:22   A stronghold is in fact something that has a strong hold over us. Strongholds are not easily dislodged otherwise they would be called weak-holds. It takes more than strength of will to bring down a stronghold. It takes wisdom. Wisdom can be defined as “knowing what the greatest goal is in any situation, and what the best way is to achieve it.” (John Piper) When you talk about pulling down a stronghold, courage must also be involved. Knowing that a stronghold must go does not make the act of getting rid of it any easier. It takes hard work and great skill to scale the stronghold, whatever it may be. It would seem that the greater the stronghold, the greater the wisdom is needed to bring it down. Every stronghold is different. Therefore, the solution to each one is different. Wisdom that is effective in one area will not be sufficient for another area. This is one rea
Read more