Day 9 – Ephesians 4:2; Psalm 51:10
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.[1]
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. [2]
This is a do or die year for the church because it is a do or die year for all of us as individuals. In order for any ministry to grow and develop as it should and as it has been called, it becomes necessary for her to have a deep, personal spiritual hunger that motivates her to seek healing from God, and to be willing to set aside her own viewpoints and seek God’s vision and ways. This is the second of seven suggestions for how to go about accomplishing that goal: seek a clean heart and humility before God.
Humility and purity before God are two powerful qualities that can make or break an individual or even a nation. There is much in our society that militates against either of these qualities. There is seemingly neither care for purity or humility even within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. One would be hard pressed to hear a sermon in most churches about the biblical standard for holiness or, especially, about sin. One might hear sermons about humility but they would be tainted by the arrogance of perceived position and power.
In order for the church corporately or individual Christians to advance the Kingdom of God there must be a genuine commitment to purity and humility. God can work in and through vessels that are neither pure nor humble, but their influence and impact will be sorely limited. One only has to read through the Old Testament to see the different types of people God used. They were not all pure and they were not all humble and yet God still used them. To be humble is to be modest, respectful and lowly. To be pure is to unadulterated, chaste, or free from contamination.
Paul counsels the Ephesians to be humble and gentle, to patiently bear with one another in love. David implored God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. To be pure and humble then would appear to be qualities that one is able to cultivate, but there must first be a will to do so. If, however, we decide to walk in purity and humility we will see a harvest unlike any we have ever seen before. The harvest will come not because we are so pure, “all of our righteousness is like filthy rags before Him,” but because we completely reliant on God. Let us all make the choice to walk in purity and humility today, for the sake of our personal futures and the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Gracious Father, come and change our hearts and minds until we become completely humble and pure. Cause our thoughts to come into alignment with the thoughts you think toward us. Enable us to consider the welfare of others over and beyond our own. Show us the way of righteousness so that our lives might better give honor and glory to Your name, and that Your Kingdom might come here on earth even as it is in heaven. Amen.
© 2014 – Dr. James H. Logan, Jr.
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