The Purity in Christ Jesus!

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” – Titus 1:15-16 NIV

To be pure, we have to have spiritual eyes, spiritual ears, and spiritual minds, that are able to see and comprehend all things are actually for the glory of God (Colossians 1:16-23) Nevertheless, it is hard to be completely pure because of our worldly minds. Our worldly minds tend to manipulate us that everything is for us—our own selfishness and our own gain. I have been struggling with these around last 53 hours, beginning from Thursday night. This is why I have not been able to write devotionals for two days. My problem was that I was kind of having television addiction, even though they were for a little while. My spirit was saying me to watch specific drama that I sometimes watch. I knew that I had something else to do for the glory of God, but I watched that Korean drama instead. I hate to say that I have been repenting for a couple of times because repentance did not work, due to the fact that I did not put into action (James 2:14-26). I watch television when I am very hungry or when I am eating a meal. When I am very hungry, I cannot concentrate at anything so I tend to watch television. In addition, I watch television when I am having a meal because I tend to eat fast that my stomach cannot digest properly I think, and watching television helps me to eat slowly I believe. However, these may be excuses why I have to watch television. I thought about what God had spoken to Moses when He commanded Him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 4:10-12) and put them in my own circumstances, such as ‘Who gave human beings their stomach? Who makes them to have satisfaction forevermore? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not, I the Lord?’ Furthermore, I do not like to watch television anymore, such as Korean programmes or English cartoons, because I am afraid that I might get addicted to them again. Worldly addictions cause us to be confused between our world and the Kingdom world, thinking that we are able to serve ourselves as well as God. However, James 4:4-5 declares, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?”

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)

Therefore, I have to crucify all of our worldly nature, such as desires, passions, pleasures, and will, and then I have to transform my worldly-mindset into the mind-set of the Spirit (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:24-25). In addition to this, I tend to watch online sermons or listen to my podcasts, instead of watching television, to gain more knowledge of God. I tend to continue to listen worship and gospel music when I have headaches, for I found that these give me external and internal peace, even though I play chess at these times. I will also continue in reading a lot of devotionals and I am going to start reading Christian books as well. I think I have to more discipline myself into prayer. Lastly, I also tend to try my best in doing online theology courses, even though I cannot skim and scan in reading very well. Overall, I am doing everything for the glory of God (Colossians 3:1-4) because my first priority is God (Matthew 7:21). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) I want Jesus Christ to be glorified through me and I just want to live my life by the truth (John 14:6-7). These are because Jesus Christ is the culmination and the end of the law (Romans 10:4), and He came into the world to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he [Jesus Christ] said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)