August 31, 2018 PURIFY YOURSELF
1 Peter 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Some have the belief that they must wait until God ‘zaps’ them before they experience change. However, this view is not in keeping with the teachings throughout the New Testament. We must remember that God works in us as we work with Him. God has given us His Holy Spirit for the purpose of revealing Himself to us, guiding us, teaching us, and empowering us to do the things that please Him. A major emphasis of the New Testament is that of encouraging believers not to resist the Holy Spirit, but to yield to and obey Him. In the verses above, we find a connection between looking for His return and making ourselves ready for His return. If we truly expect His coming for us at any time, if our hope is fixed on His return at any hour, then the natural thing for us to do is to make ourselves ready, or as this verse says, ‘purify our self.’ This is where we are called to work with Him. With the Spirt as the help and the power, we are to take dominion over our life; we must determine what we will do and what we will not do, what we will believe and what we will not believe. We must continually be laying aside those things about us that is not pleasing to the Lord or in keeping with being His sons and daughters. Colossians 3 is all about putting off those things that do no please the Lord and that are not a part of our new nature. In this chapter we see that we are to set our mind on things above, consider the members of our body as dead to sin, to put aside all the things that are not becoming of believers, to put on the new self, to do all in the name of Jesus, and etc. It is abundantly clear that we have the responsibility and the privilege to adjust our lives to the pattern we find in scripture; the scriptures are given for our instruction. Romans 15:4. So, in light of this, let us today be about purifying ourselves and making whatever adjustments we need to make in order to align our life with the life God has called us to live. Of course, we can only do this because the Spirit of God lives in us. Believe it or not, expect it or not, He is coming back for us-let’s be ready!
Matthew 24:44 “Therefore you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Blessings,
Buddy
1 Peter 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Some have the belief that they must wait until God ‘zaps’ them before they experience change. However, this view is not in keeping with the teachings throughout the New Testament. We must remember that God works in us as we work with Him. God has given us His Holy Spirit for the purpose of revealing Himself to us, guiding us, teaching us, and empowering us to do the things that please Him. A major emphasis of the New Testament is that of encouraging believers not to resist the Holy Spirit, but to yield to and obey Him. In the verses above, we find a connection between looking for His return and making ourselves ready for His return. If we truly expect His coming for us at any time, if our hope is fixed on His return at any hour, then the natural thing for us to do is to make ourselves ready, or as this verse says, ‘purify our self.’ This is where we are called to work with Him. With the Spirt as the help and the power, we are to take dominion over our life; we must determine what we will do and what we will not do, what we will believe and what we will not believe. We must continually be laying aside those things about us that is not pleasing to the Lord or in keeping with being His sons and daughters. Colossians 3 is all about putting off those things that do no please the Lord and that are not a part of our new nature. In this chapter we see that we are to set our mind on things above, consider the members of our body as dead to sin, to put aside all the things that are not becoming of believers, to put on the new self, to do all in the name of Jesus, and etc. It is abundantly clear that we have the responsibility and the privilege to adjust our lives to the pattern we find in scripture; the scriptures are given for our instruction. Romans 15:4. So, in light of this, let us today be about purifying ourselves and making whatever adjustments we need to make in order to align our life with the life God has called us to live. Of course, we can only do this because the Spirit of God lives in us. Believe it or not, expect it or not, He is coming back for us-let’s be ready!
Matthew 24:44 “Therefore you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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