11 ¶ He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
What does it mean to be pure? Well, for one thing it means to be just. Look to the parallel phrasing.
Job 4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
The pure person is upright. Note the connection between synonyms with “and”.
Job 8:6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
Pure religion is defined which includes charitable actions toward those without power or help and to keep yourself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted (uncontaminated by worldy thinking; see Jude 23 and 1 John 2:15-17) from the world.
We have no king ruling over us but we do have many petty tyrants vying for attention, many of whom seem to have only one goal in mind, to get re-elected. Offer no offense, play to your base, seem as calm and rational as possible, and appear to be impartial which in the days of our nation’s founding was called being ‘disinterested’. Pureness of heart doesn’t seem to be a value that is granted much importance unless it is pretended for a speech or two. Some of them change spouses like a worn out coat, spend the money they’ve extorted from us for themselves, their cronies and backers’ financial interests, and their political base, speak high and mighty things about human rights or personal freedom, and wear their feigned religious beliefs like a magic amulet that is supposed to grant them entry to our approval, yet being pure, just, and upright doesn’t appear to be a thought that ever occurred to the majority of those who seek that power.
Christ is our king and He calls His disciples, those who serve Him with their words and their hearts, His friends.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
It is with our words, expressing what is in our hearts, that we come to Christ and are made His servant and His friend.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
God longs to have that intimate relationship with us even moreso than He did with Moses and Abraham.
Exodus 33:11a And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend…
James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
The only way we can count the God who created us, the King of the universe and beyond, as our friend is to become born again in the Spirit, believing and trusting in Him in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), speaking of His grace with our lips to everyone that will hear as well as to those who won’t.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
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