Thursday, December
12, 2013, 8:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song “Open My Heart” into my mind when I sat down to have my quiet time
with him this morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1 John 3 (ESV).
As He Is Pure
See
what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did
not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not
yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we
shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as
he is pure.
Everyone
who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no
sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has
either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever
practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a
practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the
devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in
him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it
is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does
not love his brother.
Everyone who hopes in God purifies himself as God is pure.
To be pure means to not be mixed with any other substance, and to be clean and
free from impurities. Impurities are substances which adulterate or contaminate
something (Encarta). If something is adulterated or contaminated, it is soiled,
polluted, foul, dirty, et al. The Bible lists for us many ways in which our
lives can be polluted and adulterated with impurities, yet it also names
several main categories which involve this mixing with other things: 1)
Spiritual Adultery, 2) Idolatry, and 3) Syncretism - the mixture of beliefs or
religions.
As followers of Christ, we are married to Jesus Christ. When
we give our hearts, passions, desires, time, talents and loyalty and devotion
to the things of this world or to the people of this world, in place of or over
and above God, or when we give our time and talents to do things for God, but
we withhold from him our submission and obedience to his will and to his purposes
for our lives, this is spiritual adultery. We cannot be in the practice of
being partakers and participators in willful sin and in the values, philosophies,
and evil practices of this sinful world, which stand against God, and still
abide in Christ. The two don’t mix. Also, when we chase after the pleasures of
this life, self-gratification, humanistic ideologies, material possessions,
fame and/or other human beings to bring us joy, peace, satisfaction and
fulfillment in this life instead of looking to our Lord Jesus to meet all of
our needs, this is idolatry. And, when we mix our worship of God with the
worship of what is antichrist; with other humans, false doctrines and
teachings, greed, or what is worldly, this is syncretism.
So, how do we purify ourselves? To purify means to cleanse,
refine, decontaminate and to get rid of or to remove impurities. First of all,
we must pray and ask God to show us all impurities in our lives; all idolatries
or mixtures with what is worldly or pagan, and then we must be willing to part
with all he puts a finger on in our lives. Then, we must yield to his Lordship
over our lives and rely on his power and strength within us to reject and to
rid our lives of all that is impure and to replace these with what is of God
(See Eph. 4-5).
We Know Love
For
this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love
one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered
his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his
brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the
brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother
is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By
this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in
him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
By
this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows
everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence
before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we
believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he
has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.
And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
What is love? It can be many things, but when God says we
should love others or love him, what does he mean? HELPS Word Studies defines
the word translated as “love” this way:
With
the believer, 25 /agapáō ("to love") means actively doing what the
Lord prefers, with Him (by His power and direction). True 25 /agapáō
("loving") is always defined by God – a "discriminating
affection which involves choice and selection" (WS, 477). 1 Jn 4:8,16,17
for example convey how loving ("preferring," 25 /agapáō) is Christ
living His life through the believer.
Exactly! When God tells us to love others, he means for us
to love as he loves, in his power and direction; allowing Christ Jesus to live
His life through us, and to minister Christ’s love to those whom he brings into
our lives. So, when we love with this kind of love, we will not be selfish,
dishonest, disingenuous, purposefully hurtful, or revengeful. We will not
require tit-for-tat, i.e. the repayment of a wrong (or perceived wrong) or
injury suffered by inflicting equivalent harm on the doer (Source: Encarta), or
require that others do for us as we have done for them. We will not tell people
lies, even if we mean to encourage them through false flattery, and we will not
lie to them in order to save our own skin or to try to mask our own evil
intentions or motivations. And, we won’t do for them or say to them just what
we think will get us liked in return, but we will always consider what is truly
in their best interest and what will meet their genuine needs, but not
necessarily their wants. This type of love will be willing to lay down its life,
and will be prepared to be hated in return in order to demonstrate Christ’s
love to others. Remember Jesus was despised, hated, rejected, mocked, accused
falsely and killed because he loved people with God’s love. True love for others
is sometimes “tough love.”
As well, this type of love is not talk only, but is action.
If we say we love others, or we love God, but our actions speak just the
opposite, by God’s standards, not by human standards, then we are just mouthing
empty words. We must put our feet where our mouth is and demonstrate Christ’s
love, not just by the things we say, but by the things we do.
Open My Heart /
An Original Work / July 2, 2013
“Be wise about what is good and innocent about what is
evil” (Rm. 16:19b).
Open my heart. Let
Your truth in.
Make of me a servant,
pure within;
Sing of Your praise
all of my days.
Let Your Spirit
transform all my ways.
Jesus Christ died on a
cross to
Save me from my sin.
“Repent of sin. Be
cleansed within.
Obey all of His
commands today.”
“Why do you doubt? Why
do you fear?
Jesus Christ will wipe
away your tears.
He cares for you. He
feels your pain.
Die to sin, and life
with Him you’ll gain.
Follow Him where’er He
leads you.
Talk with Him each
day.
Then you will know what
He has planned
For your life before
your world began.”
“Come unto Me, weary
in heart.
Let My love and grace
to you impart.
Believe in Me. Trust
in My care.
Take your burdens to
the Lord in prayer.
He will meet all of
your needs,
And give you peace within.
Rejoice in Him! Tell
of His love.
He will give you
comfort from above.”
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