"Purify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
Joshua 3:5
Your potential is determined by your purity. If your motives are pure, there is nothing God cannot do through you. Instead of focusing all of our energy on planning the future maybe we ought to focus on purifying ourselves. After all, that is how God prepares us. You want to be used by God? Purify yourself. You want the favor of God? Purify yourself. You want to experience peace and joy? Purify yourself. You want to see God do wonders? Purify yourself. Or maybe I should say: let God purify you. You can't do it yourself. But Christ has done it for you on the cross.
The way you prepare yourself for tomorrow is by purifying yourself today!
How? It starts with repentance. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Confession is spiritual cleansing. Purity is a deep cleaning if you will. It involves the deep recesses of your heart and mind. It includes the hidden motives of your heart. It includes the secret thoughts in your mind. You have to look in the mirror for a long time! You have to be brutally honest. You have to give God all access to everything. But if we make purity our goal, God will do wonderful things! That is the Biblical pattern.
By the way, that probably means we'll go through some painful things. Purifying always involves some fire. But God redeems our pain and uses it for His gain! And it's the painful things that makes the wonderful things so wonderful.
Joshua 3:5
Your potential is determined by your purity. If your motives are pure, there is nothing God cannot do through you. Instead of focusing all of our energy on planning the future maybe we ought to focus on purifying ourselves. After all, that is how God prepares us. You want to be used by God? Purify yourself. You want the favor of God? Purify yourself. You want to experience peace and joy? Purify yourself. You want to see God do wonders? Purify yourself. Or maybe I should say: let God purify you. You can't do it yourself. But Christ has done it for you on the cross.
The way you prepare yourself for tomorrow is by purifying yourself today!
How? It starts with repentance. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Confession is spiritual cleansing. Purity is a deep cleaning if you will. It involves the deep recesses of your heart and mind. It includes the hidden motives of your heart. It includes the secret thoughts in your mind. You have to look in the mirror for a long time! You have to be brutally honest. You have to give God all access to everything. But if we make purity our goal, God will do wonderful things! That is the Biblical pattern.
By the way, that probably means we'll go through some painful things. Purifying always involves some fire. But God redeems our pain and uses it for His gain! And it's the painful things that makes the wonderful things so wonderful.
14 Comments:
Thanks Mark. I am soo using this in my teaching tomorrow.
Mark,
Good thoughts.
Chris,
I have a feeling that you desire to be a purist when it comes to hermeneutics. That is a good thing.
Don't forget to balance that with courtesy and grace.
Happy New Year
Chris,
Since context is king, maybe we should look at Mark's context. I don't see anything in his post that remotely resembles the teaching of the Judaizers. He simply points out the responsibility of believers to pursue pure lives in order that God may use their lives.
The Bible does demonstrate that God blesses & uses those who have purified themselves. Yes, salvation is solely rooted in God's grace, but God blesses His people when they have submitted themselves to His Word. That's undeniable.
By ignoring what Mark actually writes you end up lumping him in with very specific 1st century groups. Did I miss Mark's call for all people to be circumcised for salvation or sanctification?
Too often we (including me) come to the scriptures & to one another's teachings with a gross lack of humility to the continual process of our learning & God's teaching.
Typically I stay out of stuff like this b/c Paul also encouraged us to stay out of meaningless debates, but this just felt like an attack hiding behind an anonymous profile, & that really gets to me.
Chris,
Will all do respect, all you ever do is find fault with others. That's as succinctly as I can put it.
I'd politely ask you not to link or post on my blog.
Thanks for respecting my request.
Mark
Thank you for this.
Chris,
Again, I don't think you're reading what people are actually writing. It's almost as if you're reading what you want to read. The general call from Mark & reiterated by me was for God's people to pursue pure lives. At no point did anyone propose relying on our own works for salvation or sanctification, as did the Judaizers. To ignore a believer's responsibility to live a life obedient to God's word ignores not only scripture in James but also Paul. If Paul, who had the most sophisticated theology of grace, acknowledged a believer's responsibility to live a life worthy of the Lord, then surely we can all agree that our pursuit of purity works in partnership with God's work in us to bring us to maturity in our faith.
Mark,
Sorry that I engaged Chris so much. I just get a little worked up when someone shows up with an agenda to tear others down. I'm bowing out of this debate now, & you can feel free to delete my posts responding to Chris. Thanks for your ministry & leadership Mark.
Chris,
You've been reading my blog long enough to know that I don't let people hijack it. I'm well aware that there are a handful of blog stalkers that try to take what I've written and find something wrong it. I just don't go there. I don't play defense. Life is too short. And the mission is too important. Feel free to do what you do on your blog, but I'd politely request that you not comment on mine. I think it's a waste of time. I think it's divisive. And I think it dishonors God.
I try to operate on Titus 3:9.
Thanks,
Mark
Great call to purity, Pastor Mark! I know we all need it.
But you know, you don't need to be pure to be used by God. My favorite example is Nebuchadnezzar. God used him to judge Judah, right? 100% God's will, and he wasn't even a believer! ;)
Wait, isn't this backwards? Didn't God promise in this verse that God was going do something miraculous and therefore they should purify themselves? The word "for" seems to be the key there. Purify yourselves for/because I am going to do...
Isn't what Mark is saying a reversal of this? Purify yourselves and THEN God will do something? That seems to be a reverse analysis of the text...
Does that make sense?
Trevor,
Interesting chicken vs. egg thought.
My observation would be that purity is a prerequisite for everything God does. Impurity is a forfeiture of the miracles God wants to do. That sequence is consistent throughout Scripture.
II Timothy 2:21 is a good example. If you purify yourself, you qualify yourself to be used by God in bigger ways. Purity doesn't just equal potential. It equals "noble purpose" in that context.
Mark
Who is this Chris fellow that is responded to so much in this blog post? Where are his comments that ignited such debate and apparent close mindedness. Christ calls us to compare things and people to the Word of God and should we not do that with those who disagree with us? Is censoring loving and beneficial for the body of Christ?
Anonymous,
I'm doing everyone a grand favor :) I love dialogue. Even love disagreement. And if it's redemptive then I'm all over it. But I try to discern the spirit of the person posting the comment. If it's someone who I think is trying to just start an argument (not a dialogue) or hijack my blog (instead of having their own blog) I don't allow that person to waste everybody else's time. I have a few blog stalkers who I don't allow to comment because I know their track record.
Hope that helps explain. Part of the reason for that comment policy is that I'm pastoring, writing, parenting, and blogging. I just don't have time for ungodly arguments that serve no redemptive purpose. I think Scripture tells us not to have those kind of arguments in Titus 3:9.
Mark
What a great resource!
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