pure in heart

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Pure In Relationship

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published earlier, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I look at part four, Pure in Relationship.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂   I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart.  We’ve already looked at living Pure in Humor, Pure in Eyes, and Pure in Attitude and now we come to Pure in Relationship.

” Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”  1 Timothy 5:1-2 (NIV)

Somewhere along the line it seems that respect in relationship has slid out of practice in a society that values the individual rights above all else and lives by an “everything is about me” attitude.  Living pure in relationship will require a foundation of purity in attitude.  As our attitude grows into being more Christ-like, we more consistently consider the needs of others above those of our own.

Paul writes to the young evangelist, Timothy, with some great instructions on what a pure relationship would look like in a variety of age and gender contexts.  We treat older men as if they were our father — even, and especially, when the situation appears to call for correction.  We treat younger men as brothers — siblings who may not always agree but always are looking out for and protect against attacks from outside the family.  We treat older women as we would a loving and sacrificial mother — with great love, tenderness and compassion.  We treat younger women as a sister — with absolute purity and no allowance for thoughts by us, or by anyone else, that would place them in a compromising position.  Unfortunately, much of the meaning gets lost when we fail to understand how Timothy would have heard and taken the comparisons that Paul makes.

The ultimate purity in relationship ought to be found in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ!  This is a relationship that we simply must get right.  As the song that planted the seeds for this series says, “none can go up there, but the pure in heart”.  In our relationship with God, do we tend to “cheat” on Him with other lovers?  Do we talk back and show complete contempt for who He is?  Do we ignore His will and commands with a disrespect that leads us down a very dark path?  Do we have no regard for His name and the reputation we give it to those who are watching us?  In our relationship with Him, and with others, God calls us to be holy as He is holy.  While that is impossible to do on our own, we can experience a cleansing of our attitude and an empowering of His Spirit to enable us to live a life that is holy and acceptable unto God.

So, how are your relationships?  Are you allowing your relationships to grow in depth and purity as you center them around the core of a vibrant relationship with God?  Do you live submissively in relationship with people in a way that shows you value them and their needs above yourself and your desires?  I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In Attitude

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published earlier, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I look at part three, Pure in Attitude.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂   I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart and I begin with this post focused on the attitude we live with and view life through.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)

We’ve all probably said it at some time or at least heard it said, “Boy, do they have an attitude!”.  How many times have you heard a parent, or someone else, say, “Drop the attitude now or you’re going to find yourself in big trouble!”?  Typically when we think about attitude or talk about attitude, more often than not it is going to involve a bad attitude.  Is that because they are more common, more noticeable, more in need of correction, some other reason, or some combination of several reasons?  The reason for a bad attitude isn’t all that important — the important part is what will I do to replace it!

God says that when we become His child, part of getting rid of the old self is to take on a new attitude in our mind — to become pure in attitude!  How do we do that?  Our new attitude comes when we commit to a diligent pursuit of “out with the old, in with the new”.  We escape being conformed to the attitude of this world when we are transformed by a renewing of our mind.  As we consider what we have through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, we should be compelled to examine the attitude we live life with and the attitude we view others through.

Paul writes to the Philippians that because of all that we have through being united with Christ we should not only look to our own interest, but be concerned with the interest of others as well.  He says to do this our attitude needs to be the same as that of Christ Jesus.  We must allow the renewing of our mind to replace our worldly, selfish attitude with a Christ-like, serving attitude.  We grow in purity of attitude when we willingly humble ourself and take on the role of a servant to those around us.  Being a servant is not that unusual — most of us are in that role at least at times in our life.  The big question for this discussion is what attitude do we carry into that role?  God calls us to be pure in attitude and serve others with a willing and humble heart.  It is this type of pure attitude that portrays the nature of Jesus to a world that is in desperate need of a true relationship with God that can only be found through Him.

So, how’s your attitude?  Are you allowing your attitude to be transformed by a renewing of your mind by God’s Spirit?  Do you willingly humble yourself and serve others with a pure attitude?  I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In Eyes

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published last week, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I look at part two, Pure in Eyes.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂   I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart and I begin with this post focused on what we take in through our eyes.

Remember the old church preschool song?  “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see . . .”.   The Bible has much to say about the seriousness of what we take in through our eyes.  The Psalmist writes, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”  (Psalm 119:36-37)  Jesus tells us, “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  (Matthew 18:9)  The Psalmist also tells us to “set no worthless thing before my eyes” and indicates that some have fallen away because of the things they have allowed their eyes to dwell on.

We live in a visually bombarded society with images constantly coming at us varying from that of great wholesome beauty to that of intense evil.  Could you imagine if there were a filter for our eyes that would automatically block out any unwholesome view?  How much of your favorite TV show would you end up actually seeing?  How much of your on-line computer time would be dark because the visual is blocked?  I hope it is obvious that if we are intentionally filling our eyes with worthless things then we have a serious problem.

For most of us though, the purity of our eyes is more often contaminated by what we unintentionally observe than by what we seek out.  In some ways this is even more dangerous to us because it ends up filling our eyes, and our mind, in a way that we hardly recognize the influence it has over us.  What we see over and over, whether intentionally or not, influences what we believe is normal and right.  This visual influence will attack your area of greatest weakness and you won’t even realize why you’re unhappy with your looks, your body size and image, your car, your home, your relationships, or whatever it is that you’ve continually seen that looks better to you.

So how do we maintain a life that is pure in eyes?  Sometimes we have to go to the extreme of cutting out, or blocking, images that are constant stumbling blocks to us.  This “gouging out of our eyes” to images that we cannot gain mastery over is preferrable to allowing what we see to draw us away from our relationship with Christ.  Sometimes we just need a reminder, some accountability, to not let our eyes dwell on that which is impure.  It is bad enough to see certain things but to have our eyes return to them a second, third, fourth, . . . time probably means we are not all that serious about being pure in eyes.

If the eyes are indeed the windows to the soul, what amount of light are you allowing into yours?  Are you maintaining a pure heart through a deliberate approach to maintaining purity in what you allow before your eyes?

I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In Humor

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published last week, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I begin with Pure in Humor.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂  I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart and I begin with this post focused on our view of humor.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”  Ephesians 5:2-5

What do you find funny?  How would others describe your sense of humor?  Dry?  Witty?  Missing?  Off-color?  Depends on who  you’re with?  What does it look like to live pure in humor — with no “obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking”?  Social media can be an incredible tool to communicate and connect with people in positive ways but the openness of it can often be a window into our soul that is much darker than we would care to admit.

As one that has been involved in vocational ministry for many years, I admittedly have been somewhat protected from what seems to be a gutter-ball slide of society into an acceptable culture of “obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking”.  If you have to start a story or joke with, “this may be inappropriate, but . . . “, it probably shouldn’t be told.  🙂  There’s nothing wrong with people knowing, because of what you believe and stand for, that what they’re about to say you wouldn’t find funny.  Polite laughter, so as not to offend, often appears to be implied approval or acceptance.  It is somewhat ironic that we will laugh at an offensive joke so as not to offend the joke-teller while we are offended, or at least ought to have been offended, by what was said.

While people who know me as a minister, or even as a Christian, may throttle back on what they say in person, the on-line social media is a whole other arena in which everything you post is out there for all to see.  It is sad to see how many people on my “friends” list use everything from mildly suggestive to downright obscene language in their posts and comments.  Everything is tagged with “lol” and we’re supposed to just laugh it off because it wasn’t meant to be serious.  I’ve heard it all.  “Get a life.”  “It’s no big deal.”  “Everyone talks like that — it doesn’t mean anything.”  “Times have changed.”  “What century are you living in?”  And on it goes.  The truth is, I can’t control what anyone writes, says, or finds funny — except for myself.  While it may be tempting at times to throw out words for shock value or laugh at things I know are inappropriate, God continues to call me to be pure in HEART and part of that calling is to live with purity in my humor.

Jesus says that what is in the heart is what comes out of the mouth.  The words that we use — whether in speech or writing — provide a window to our very heart and soul.  What we find funny, and the things we view as humorous, tells a lot about who we really are inside.  Yes, laughter really is good medicine but as we seek to be pure in heart, we really must pay close attention to seeking and having great purity in our humor.

I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In HEART

I had a song running through my head today . . . or at least a line from a song that took up residence in my mind for the day.  🙂  I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I think there is a lot that can go into that, but here are five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart.

  • Pure in Humor — “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”  Ephesians 5:2-5
  • Pure in Eyes — Remember the old church preschool song?  “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see . . .”.   “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”  Psalm 119:36-37  “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  Matthew 18:9
  • Pure in Attitude — “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Ephesians 4:22-24
  • Pure in Relationships — ” Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”  1 Timothy 5:1-2
  • Pure in Teaching — “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”  2 Timothy 1:13-14

There’s the basic outline and a handful of scriptures that God is giving me to flesh out into a sermon. 🙂  I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!