Skip to main content

21 Days Of Devotionals

Day 9

“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” Psalms 24:3-4

 

Have you ever wanted something so bad, but it seemed so far away? When I played sports I wanted to be the best and get the starting position.  I would do anything to get it.   In the end, all that stood in the way of me not sitting on the bench or playing in a championship was how hard I worked for it.  Every day I asked myself if I was giving my all out on the practice field, lifting weights, or running. It seemed like there was always something more that I could do.

 

Isn’t that true in all life though? If you want good grades, you have to study and do homework. The outcomes we get in life depend on the energy we put into them.

 

God is the same way.  Sometimes we put a lot of energy into reaching God by going to church, doing good deeds, and saying the right things, but He still seems distant.

 

The question of Psalm 24:3 is who wants to be close to God and stand in His presence?  I know it seems hard to be close to God, but He tells clearly what we have to do to get there: have clean hands and a pure heart.

 

The first time I read this I thought God was telling me to wash my hands! But then I realized it was so much more than that! 

 

What He is really saying is that purity gets His attention.

 

He doesn’t want to be around darkness. He longs that we would live set apart and pure.  A pure heart means freedom from anything that pollutes.

 

With all the distractions that surround us- money, clothes, fame, relationships- we often find ourselves weighed down with the cares of this world.  We become so familiar with darkness that we don’t give the light of God a chance to shine through. 

 

God is challenging us to break free from all of our worldly distractions.  When we do that will a pure heart, then He will draw near to us.

 

God is waiting for the people who will quit the world’s way of thinking and come up to His higher standard of purity.  Will you do what it takes to get there?

 

Questions:

How can you free your heart from things that “pollute” or get in the way?

 What situations in your life need change so that you can have clean hands and a pure heart?

Do you believe that Jesus can take all of the darkness away if you just ask him?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eternal Truth of God - Part 2

  The Eternal Truth of God Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations. I. GOD IS TRUE. 1. He is true in His very nature. Falsehood is the wickedness — I dare not call it the infirmity — the wickedness of little natures; but as for the Great Supreme, you cannot conceive Him acting in any manner that is otherwise than straightforward, upright, and truthful. A God of truth and righteousness is He essentially. He must be so. 2. The Lord our God is not only true in His nature, but He is true to His nature. You never find Him doing anything that is not godlike. Select the acts of His creation. If He makes an aphis to creep upon a rosebud, you will find traces of infinite wisdom in it: you shall submit the insect to the microscope and discern wisdom in it as glorious as that which shines in yonder rolling stars. If in providence some minor event comes under your notice, in that event you shall find no deviation from the constant ru...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gospel of Our Creation- Part 1

  The Gospel of Our Creation Psalm 100:3 Know that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.… It is he that hath made us, and not we. This declaration was held to be a gospel. It occurs in a psalm that may well be regarded as a universal psalm. It is not for Jesus only, but for "all people that on earth do dwell." And amongst the reasons wherefore it calls on all to be joyful in the Lord, there is this one - that "it is he that hath made us," etc.   I. NOW, WE CANNOT CONCEIVE OF GOD AS ACTING WITHOUT MOTIVE. And -   II. THEREFORE THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MOTIVE FOR THE CREATION OF MAN.  We can trace reasons and evidence of purpose in all God's work; hence,ce we are sure there must have been such when he created man.   III. AND THIS MOTIVE MUST HAVE BEEN GRACIOUS OR THE REVERSE.   1. It could not have been the reverse; for, whether we look at the structure of man's body, where all seems so adapte...
Post a Comment
Read more

Moving Forward: Moving Forward to Your Destiny

  Moving Forward Moving Forward to Destiny   Philippians 3:13 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,   14  I  press toward the mark for the prize of God's high calling in Christ Jesus. Like the runner who will lose the prize if he mistakes any point short of the goal for the end or if he wastes his time looking back on the course traversed, the Christian must press forward with his face towards Christ, unresting until the great race is won.   I. WE MUST NOT CONSIDER ANY PRESENT ATTAINMENT SUFFICIENT,  St, Paul was no novice when he wrote this Epistle. An old man, rich and ripe in many graces, far and away beyond the experience of most Christians, he still felt that he had not reached the great end of his efforts. How much less can inferior Christians allow themselves to be satisfied with what they have as yet acquired!...
Post a Comment
Read more