Proverbs 22:11 ¶ 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 more so 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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