The Pure and Holy Heart in Christ Jesus!

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” – Psalm 51:10,139:23-24 NIV

This kind of prayer is very essential to us, esprcially for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. This is because all of us are sinners, even though we hate to admit it, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We can see the reason for this more clearly in Romans 5:12-14 that states,

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.

Adam, the first man that God had created (Genesis 2:7) did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, but he had sinned by breaking a command that was given by God. Genesis 2:16-17 says, “… the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” However, he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was given by his wife (Genesis 3:6). Thus, because of this, Satan, the devil began to use His evil power to control the mind sets of humans that God had created and entered the world. For this reason, we automatically have became sinners.

However, since all of us are parts of God’s creation, He desperately wants us back in the Garden of Eden [heaven/the kingdom of God]. Therefore, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.” (1 John 4:9)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18)

Therefore, not only has God given us 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), but he has also given us a commandment to be pure and holy in everything for the rest of our lives, for the word of God declares, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8) Hence, we ought to crucify our wordly desires and put godly ones through the Spirit of God. This is because the word of God proclaims:

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. (Galatians 5:24-25)

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Furthermore, the word of God declares,

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” (1 Peter 1:13-17)

His divine power [the Spirit of God] has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-11)

Psalm 51:10,139:23-24 are my favourite prayer verses of all times. This is because I know that I am a sinner but I also know that I am a child of God, due to the fact that I have a faith in Christ Jesus (John 1:12-13). To be honest, these verses of Psalm explains to me that I have sinned many times, and these verses humble me so much that I want to rip my flesh apart to let God, my heavenly Father to pour out His Spirit inside of me, in order to do the will of God for the rest of my life. This is because my primary focus is to become a righteous child of God to enter the kingdom of God at the end of the age.

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)