Current Theme: A Pure Heart
As a person who loves Jesus and is out to serve him and live out life for him no matter what, living in a highly controversial world could be challenging! I mean it could be understandable if the controversy was only coming from outside the church. Unfortunately though, that’s not the case. Even within the church (the universal church i mean), there are way too many differences too; different doctrines, teachings, different interpretations of the same scriptures, different practices and ordinances… i mean it goes on and on. This gives room for more criticism, doubts and questions. With all these, keeping one’s faith requires more…
Well what more then? You could be thinking, “I believe in God, I try to study the scriptures as much as I can to get a true understanding of them, I listen to older, wiser, God fearing, spirit-led and word rooted men/women of God, so what more could there be?
Some of my favourite verses in the bible are in the 8th chapter of the book of Hebrews. They go thus;
Heads up! The days are coming when I’ll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah. I’ll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt. They didn’t keep their part of the bargain, so I looked away and let it go. This new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone; This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons . They’ll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great. They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
Hebrews 8:6-13 MSG
I think these verses are what all Christians need today, they are what we need in this day and age where everyone seems to be full of “knowledge” and information. So the “more” we need is a “pure heart” – A heart that has been written on my God himself, just like the above verses tell us.
With this kind of heart, you just don’t accept every teaching you get (because girl! There are tons of them out there today), you do a quick “heart test”, you let your heart guide you. Not just a heart that’s controlled by any and everything. But a “pure heart”, one that is controlled by the spirit of God.
Having this kind of heart is essential if your goal is to remain in Christ till the end. That’s why this month we’ll be focusing on the theme of “A pure heart” .
In the next article, we’ll look at the characteristics of this “pure heart”
We’d love to hear from you too. Leave a comment with your thoughts, experiences, ideas and understandings in relation to this theme below.
Wow! Sister Api. Thanks So much for this inspirational word. It’s really necessary to keep studying to know more about God. That way we are sure of the heart we carry and listen to.