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