A Pure Heart To Serve The Lord

Additional Recommended Scripture Reading: Psalm 51

We live in a generation today that embraces sin all over the place. Writers of most television shows don’t present a message pleasing to the Lord, instead they write about violence, gratuitous sex, gossip, and hate.

You can turn to any Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS and expect to see an average of 20-25 violent acts per hour......each hour of Saturday Morning programming.

Though the programming may seem a little more gratuitous on prime time television, the violence is on 24 hours a day, and what we take in will affect us if we don’t have a good filter on things.

Psalm 24:3-5 - 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

We need to be pure in heart before the Lord, simple as that.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

I’m saying…WHO wants to see our Wonderful Lord?!

I CERTAINLY DO! It will be the best moment of any of our existences, meeting our Creator! Hallelujah!

Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

So, how do we go about this ‘being pure’ business?

Proverbs 4:23 - Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Solomon, through inspiration of God, tells us in that verse that we need to guard ourselves through wisdom into not being corrupted by outside sources.

Pretend there’s a boy named Daniel. Daniel lives in the middle of West Palm Street. Living next door to his house is a family of four who always encourage Daniel and give him a good time by playing games with him as a group. Daniel used to be a shy, sad, and introverted boy until he started visiting their house, but now, he is a happy, outgoing young man. Then one week, that family of four took a vacation … On the other side of the street was a family of seven who always yelled their brains out at each other. Daniel visited their house and spent some time with them. By the middle of that week, Daniel started using drugs with them and began yelling at his parents. When the family of four came back, they hardly recognized Daniel.

As humans, we have developing characters and personalities. Part of what shapes us are the people around us -- our environment and our peers.

We are sponges to our surroundings, and we pick up anything that we expose ourselves too in great quantities.

What if we expose ourselves to the Bible?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Message of Jesus Christ is our guide to better living. The thief came to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come that we would have Life, and Life more Abundantly! (John 10:10)

Some sound advice from Colossians 3:1 - Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Being pure in heart is not a cakewalk to start out. Satan is out for you to be pulled away from God. However, the more firm you are in Jesus Christ, the easier it will be to escape sin and temptation to sin.

Sin is like a beaten path. Once you commit a specific sin, it becomes easier and easier to commit that sin the following times. It’s like a mown path straight to that sin…until you finally trust the Lord and avoid it once. Once you avoid that sin, you first of all have pleased the Lord, and also have seen proof that you CAN avoid committing that sin through Jesus’ Help.

A very on-the-money definition of sin is found in I John 3:4

I John 3:4 - Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Romans 2:14-15 - 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)