How can I possibly be pure when I keep messing up?
Psalm 51:6, 10You desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Psalm 86:11Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.
Romans 12:1-2So, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
1 Timothy 1:5The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.
Purity isn’t a scorecard we keep. It’s a posture of our hearts and minds. Psalm 51 was written by David after his adultery with Bathsheba. When David recognized his sin, his response was not to try to earn back God’s favor through good deeds. It was to come to God broken and in humility, asking God to change his heart. God answered David’s prayer, and he can answer ours, too.
Philippians 3:12-14I [Paul] don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
1 Peter 1:22You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
1 John 2:1My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
We are free from the guilt of sin because of what Christ Jesus has done. However, we are not yet free from sin and temptation entirely. Christians are imperfect. We sin, but our response to sin should not be despair. God calls us to confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, and take steps to do better in the future. But then it’s time to press on and forget what is behind us. It’s hard to look ahead to where God is leading us when we are too busy looking back on a failure that’s already been forgiven.
1 Corinthians 1:7-8Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
Philippians 1:6I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
We can have confidence in our salvation, and we can be confident that God is not finished with his work in our lives. One day we will be completely pure, free from every sin. In the meantime, we follow his Spirit one step at a time.
