Friday, October 23, 2009
Purity
(Matthew 5:8)
We live in an impure world. Both visual and verbal corruption assault our senses on a daily basis. Sadly, Christians have become jaded to wickedness—both tolerating it as an inescapable conclusion and sometimes reveling in it as a so-called “Christian liberty.” Many churches mirror their expectations to community morality in order to attract larger crowds of complacent sinners. As community expectations diminish, such churches get swept along with the tide.
God has set the standard and it has never changed: heart purity. Purity, mind you, is more than outward conformance to community standards. Purity always speaks of inner holiness—the true you. One can easily look the part without really being the part. Genuine purity resides in the heart and demonstrates its presence in the life. Those who merely look the part have taken a dismal shortcut known as hypocrisy.
Only the “pure in heart” shall “see God.” How can one be certain he’s pure enough? Well, in and of yourself you will never meet God’s standard of perfect purity. That’s why Christ was born, lived a sinless life, and died as a sacrifice on Calvary’s cross—to make up for my irreconcilable lack of purity and yours too.
Heart purity, therefore, comes by personal faith in Christ’s work on the cross. In fact, all the righteousness of Christ is imputed to my record once I believe (Rom. 4:1-8). That’s the heart purity we all need, and faith is the only way to get it.
