Sunday, March 15, 2015

No One's Perfect!

Paul echoed Solomon’s words when he wrote, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But Solomon forces us to address the same fact by asking a pointed question no one can escape: “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”

Sometimes we look at sin as a big “lump of things we did not do.” Sin, we believe, has its origin outside of us or something that happens “to us” and we simply have to deal with it the best we can by trying to “do better.” But that is impossible.

Sin is a “heart” problem and something we cannot change on our own. No one has ever been able to free themselves from sin. And here we find the reason.

If I were able to talk with Solomon he might begin by asking, “Larry - have you kept your heart pure?” Heart, as you will recall, includes the sum total of “us” - our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behaviors, values and goals - that forms the way I relate to everything in life. And if our hearts are not pure, whatever we do will be impure. Only God can purify our hearts through the work of Christ. Only God can free us from an impure heart and the consequences of sin.

When Solomon posed this question he framed it in such a way that anyone who answered it would be forced to respond by saying, “Not I.” In his wisdom he forces us to look inside of ourselves, at our own heart, and answer for our own impurities. We each must answer for our own uncleanliness. There is no way for us to escape our individual accountability or responsibility for what we have done that comes under this category because we have not kept our hearts pure.

Only God can create a heart that is clean and pure.

Prayer:  Father, how very grateful we are to have the gift of a pure heart that is available through Christ, Your son, our Savior. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?

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