Skip to main content

77. Purity, A Precious Commodity


Matthew 5:8, Psalm 15
Key Verse: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Matthew 5:8

In a society in which so many things are watered down, from vanilla extracts to truth, and imitation goods have become satisfactory for consumption, purity is a valuable commodity that is very hard to come by.  Purity is gained by a process of refinement that adds to its value.   Refining often removes impurities making the flavor stronger or the metal stronger in the process.

Consider this, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.  We can probably think of other examples of products in our lives that require refinement, from foods to gasoline before we can use it.  Even parts of jewelry, such as diamonds, gold and silver become more valuable as they are refined.  That's why so many of us are content to settle for an imitation.  It is less expensive and works about the same, but in truth, it's not the same and an imitation certainly is not pure. 

When we consider that we are sinful creatures, born in sin and bent toward sin, yet desiring to be in the presence of a holy God who cannot be near sin, what an amazing amount of refining is required.  Yet, Jesus tells us that, when we have become "pure in heart,” we will see God.  When we do see Him, we can no longer be content with an imitation. 

It is said that the Lord loves us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.   When we accept Him as Lord of our lives, He begins a refining process that removes the dross, the foolishness and desire for sin that is in our lives because He wants us to be able to see Him. Doesn't that just make sense?  What loving Father would not want His child to be able to see and speak with Him face to face?  "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.  For my own sake, for my own sake I do this.  How can I let myself be defamed?  I will not yield my glory to another.”  (Isaiah 48:10-11)  We may find the process of refinement painful, but it is for His glory.  He is our loving, Heavenly Father who wants to draw us as close to Him as we possibly can get. 

When is He done?  Well, when we reach heaven, we will be perfectly like Christ in character, but while here on earth, Psalm 15 gives a pretty adequate description of what God is aiming for in our lives.  Someone whose walk is blameless, loves righteousness, is not a lover of money and speaks the truth has a good start on God's purification process.  Yes, the process is long.  It will take your lifetime to complete.  But, think of the reward when it is done!  You will see God face to face and live!

Hymn:  "Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more