Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart” who “see God.”God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our “inner sanctuary” be kept right with God, but also the “outer courts” must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our “outer court” is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!”

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March 26, 2012

Lord, on this retreat, I thought I would rise up and embrace You even more tightly than before. But then I found that I was and am the same man with the same short sightedness, the same man creating the same roadblocks for myself. And then You remind me that Jesus removes all the roadblocks and all my failed attempts for becoming a better person. You remind me that I can live
like a man consumed by Jesus, not through any effort of my own, but by simply focusing on Jesus. You remind me to let go of the results, the outcomes, and to give myself to Jesus.

And God says…”Jesus is the way, the trust and the light. All things are accomplished by and through Him. Do not try to become a better person, or to live out the commandments, or
even to demonstrate your Christianity.  Do not give to the poor, invest in missions, or build a new and powerful church. Rest and trust in Jesus, and let Him accomplish all things as you are simply available, open and surrendered. In this way you will become a better person, you will live out the commandments, and your Christianity will be visible to all. You may then give to the poor, invest in missions and build a powerful and new church. But it will not be you living your Christianity and demonstrating Jesus, it will be Jesus living through you.”