Transforming Our Hearts Through Purification: A Look into the Journey of Becoming More Like Jesus.

Lately, the Lord has been bringing to my attention all of the distractions that are in my life. He has been showing me things that I do that aren’t necessarily bad, but they don’t draw me closer to him. This started before the new year but once the new year started, it has come up even more. He has been drawing me toward him more and more and has challenged me in more ways than one to get rid of the distractions. Recently I was reading in 2 Corinthians and as I started chapter 7, the first verse jumped out at me. It says this, “Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body and spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.” I would love to break this down for us because I truly believe it is a huge step that we have to take in order to become closer to God and to live a holy and fruitful life. I believe that this verse is calling us out of our lukewarm lifestyle and into a posture of full surrender to the Lord. 

The first part of the verse mentioned having promises which was stated in chapter 6 verses 14-18. “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” The promise is the highlighted part, but we must separate ourselves from darkness. We must separate ourselves from worldly living and our lukewarm lifestyle and walk into a surrendered lifestyle that is open and allowing God to move and work through us. 

The next part goes on to tell us to cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body and spirit. You can find so many other verses that say a similar message. Look up 1 John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:15-16, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, James 4:8, Romans 12:2, or even google verses that talk about cleansing ourselves. So many will pop up. With something that is repeated that much, I think it shows the importance of cleansing our life. Ephesians 4:21-24 says this, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” When we give our lives to Jesus, when we choose to no longer live according to the world’s way, we have to make sacrifices and get rid of our old lifestyle. We have to purify our lives and make them look like Jesus’. To purify something means to make it pure; to free it from anything that pollutes, adulterates (makes it impure), or contaminates it. 

You may be thinking to yourself, “you’re telling me all of these things about cleansing and purifying myself but how do I do that?” Here is the answer; you go through the fire. When something gets purified, it has a process it has to go through. Think about water. Water not purified is dangerous to drink. It can cause infections, diseases, and health effects you probably can’t even imagine. When it gets purified though; it has to get boiled, it has to go through a hard transition for it to come out clean. One of the hardest parts about giving your life to Jesus is the transition from your old life to your new life. In the verses above that is in Ephesians, it tells us to throw off our old sinful nature, to get rid of it. This is part of the cleansing process. Your old, sinful nature could include multiple things. It could be how you acted, what you did, how you talked, etc. Whatever your old, sinful life encompasses (could be drugs, alcohol, sex, theft, lying, etc.) you can be cleansed from it. You can be set free and live a new, free life by walking with Jesus.  BUT, it is a daily choice to continue in your walk with God, surrender your life, and choose to not go back to your old life. As Ephesians 4 put it, “let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.” Getting cleansed is not easy. It is hard. The process can be long and painful, but the Lord is with you through it all. He will give you the strength to get through it while showing you his grace and love the entire time. And I can also tell you that every hurt, every struggle, every temptation, and every trial that we go through is so incredibly worth it to be able to have Jesus by our side every single day. 

The last part of 2 Corinthians 7:1 says this, “And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.” Paul here is stating that we should be working toward complete holiness. I want to make this clear, no one on this earth has ever been completely holy except for Jesus. We are humans and we fail every day. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work towards being holy. To be holy means to be dedicated to God. It means to be set apart from the world. Even more, it means to live our lives fully surrendered to the Lord. To walk the way Jesus walked, talk the way Jesus talked, and do what Jesus did. How do we do that? How do we know how to live a holy life? We read and study Jesus’ life and we apply it to our lives. We fall into the Lord’s arms every day and we surrender it all to Him. We pray and stay in communion with Him. We learn to abide in Him and stay in His presence at all times. Learning to live a holy life is one of the biggest things that the Lord has laid on my heart in the past year. I am nowhere close to where I want to be, but I am striving and learning every day how to lay down my life and follow the Lord. 

My challenge for you is that you take some time to ask the Lord what areas in your life need to be cleansed. What areas in your life you need to surrender to Him. My prayer is that your heart is open to receive what He shows you. I pray that you are willing to go through the process to become purified through Christ and to strive to live a holy life, fully surrendered to the Lord. 

As I continue with the blog, I want to take us through a journey of Jesus’ life. I want us to be able to learn and see who Jesus was and how He lived His life. I believe that doing this will open our eyes to see how we are supposed to live our lives and challenge us to be like Him. Stay tuned!