Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10 (NIV)
This plea from King David was his response after his affair with Bathsheba. When facing his sin, he turned to God and cried out for a clean heart. We too can follow David’s example, turn to God and seek a pure heart.
But the enemy wants us to dwell on our sin…to lay in shame and wallow in our unfaithfulness. He wants us to delay our confession and repentance. He wants this so we continue to look inward (unsuccessfully) for pardon and cleansing. He wants us to do anything but turn to God.
One of the most common calls of the heart in the Bible is to a pure heart.
John Piper in DesiringGod.com says:
“The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with utter single-mindedness. Purity of heart is to will that one thing.”
The opposite of this single-mindedness is what the Bible calls double-mindedness. That is, we want to be seen one way, yet we think another. We want to conform to the world, but also keep God in the picture. As a result, we may look shiny on the outside, but inside we’re a tangled mess, unsettled and unfulfilled.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God“. Matthew 5:8 (NASV)
When we daily come to Christ in humble submission and totally rely on Him with our lives, we move closer and closer to a pure heart.
Having a pure heart is not just hard, it’s impossible…without the Spirit of God dwelling in us and guiding us. We can try in our own power to be clean and pure, but without abiding in Christ, we are nothing more than a loud noise.
Just think of any facet of your heart that you’re not proud of. Trying really hard to overcome that (pride, addiction, love of money, apathy, jealousy, bitterness, etc) is simply not possible for any sustained period of time. Unfortunately, I know this personally. However, I also know that when I began to abide in Christ and be aware of His presence, my desires change.
God wants us to have a pure heart so He can enjoy more of us, so we can enjoy more of Him and so we can be a bright light to this darkened world. Will you join me in this noble goal – to confess your sin, repent and abide with Christ and have a pure heart toward God?
Prayer
Lord, I desire a pure heart. I want a renewed spirit within me. Lord I am tired of doing this the wrong way….trying hard to be good, look good and check good deeds off my spiritual-life list. I now want to know the fruit in my life that comes from being close to you, from abiding in You. I pray and ask John 15:4-5 to be real in my life.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.“
Lord make this true for me today and every day. Remind me in my spirit to submit to and abide in You for my all. In Christ’s name, Amen.
