Without Defilement by John Hagee

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

From time to time God, the master sculptor, places us in the heat of trial and adversity, where our contents can be tested.

We can understand purity of heart in two senses.  The first meaning is to be without hypocrisy, or to be sincere.  The word “sincere” comes from two Latin words.  Sin means “without” and cere means “wax.”

The term refers to stone statues.  The one thing that could make a statue worthless was a crack in the stone.  In an effort to deceive a prospective buyer, a seller might mix rock dust with wax and rub the mixture into a crack on a statue.  In dim inside light, the wax made the statue appear flawless.  But outside, the sun’s heat would melt the wax and expose the fraud.  Thus for a statue to be “without wax” meant that it was authentic, genuine, just as it appeared to be.

If we have become cosmetic Christians whose faults and defects are hidden by the wax of phony religiosity, we will be exposed as frauds.  We can’t pretend to be pure and get away with it.

Without Defilement

The second meaning of being pure in heart is to be cleansed, or without defilement.  Only the pure will be permitted to enter heaven.  Nothing unclean is going to enter heaven.  And God is the one who determines what it means to be clean.

But aren’t we Christians already pure by the blood of Jesus which was shed upon the cross?  Yes, but we must choose to remain pure.  The Bible says, “Everyone who has this hope in him to be made like Jesus, to spend eternity with Him in heaven purifies himself, just as He Jesus is pure” 1 John 3:3.

In another place it says, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.  Grieve, mourn and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom do you see the connections here between mourning over wrongdoing and purity of heart?.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” James 4:9-10.

Who takes the next step?  We do.  It’s not God’s job to chase us down.  It’s up to us to call upon Him.

Source:  Being Happy in an Unhappy World

Spiritual Growth