Motivational Monday-Pursuing Purity

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Recently, I read an article on purity and realized that this is a topic I need to spend time with more often. Why the need to study purity you might ask? God wants us to have pure hearts-James 4:8. What better reason is there? So, how can we have pure hearts?

            First, we must obey God’s word. 1 Peter 1:22 tells us that we purify our souls “in obeying the truth.” Second, we must keep a constant watch on our hearts and lives. Paul commanded Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:22 to “keep thyself pure.” We are to do the same. We are to abstain from the very appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).  Thirdly, we must think pure thoughts. Our lives are the product of our thoughts (Prob. 23:7), therefore we must meditate on things that are pure. Philippians gives us a list of things that we should keep on our mind…

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Php. 4:8

            Finally, we purify our hearts by being motivated to do so. Our motivation is hope. In 1 John 3:3 we read, “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” As Christians, we desire to go to heaven and spend eternity with our Heavenly Father. When delivering the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that the pure in heart would see God. We want to see God, so let us “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim 2:22).