By Carole L. Haines
To the pure, all things are pure. (Titus 1:15a)
Clean, that’s the word in my mind this morning. I am looking out at new fallen snow, everything covered in a white, pristine beauty. Every branch, pinecone, and blade of grass, covered in pure white. I live out in the sticks, right across from a State Park. Plows come through but not often. Across the street I was able to see a road with no prints on it, not animal, human or tire. It was extremely inviting, yet I didn’t want to disturb the still beauty of it. So I resisted the temptation to take my dog for a walk on that road. Jesus purifies us of all our sins, past, present and future. But there is a Purity of heart that God wishes us to maintain and care for throughout our transformational journey with Christ.
God desires our purity of heart. This requires a continual awareness of where we veer off His path of purity, purity of thought, word and deed. This is not a legalistic, “God doesn’t want us to have any fun” kind of purity. This is purity that acts as a preservative, keeping our hearts in tune with His.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”
(Psalm 139:23-24)
As we journey out of fear, we will find places within ourselves that we don’t want to look at, things we have done, perhaps some things done to us, that are just so painful to contemplate. We are not to go digging around on our own in these delicate places. We are walking through this with our Advocate, the Holy Spirit of God, with Jesus our Savior, and with our loving Heavenly Father. Jesus already demonstrated how much he loves us, even in our fallen state.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Yet journey into this terrain of fear is not one we should ever take alone. We need fellow travelers (I have a few), and we need to go only where God leads us, when he leads us. He gives us the prayer path to follow in the Scripture prayer of Psalm 139:23-24 (shown above).
*We are inviting God to search us, to examine our hearts.
*We are asking Him to try us and know, or reveal, the cause of our anxious thoughts.
*We are asking Him to SEE for us any hurtful way within us
*And then to lead us in His everlasting way.
I am finding so much joy on this journey out of fear. I am finding peace tht has eluded me for years and years. It requires being searched by God, revealed and opened up by His Spirit and having our impurities cleansed through confession and repentance. It requires following this verse-
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.“
(Romans 12:18 NASB)
The fruit of this endeavor and the freedom I am finding on this journey gives me such inner contentment. The gratitude I have cannot be expressed in words. Grateful tears and inner leaps of joy is more the response that my spirit and soul are having. Arduous, yes; but freeing Wahoo Yes and Amen! Be Blessed today, Dear Believer.
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