"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart" (NIV)
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth . . ." It is absolutely true that we cannot rid ourselves of our sin. It is also absolutely true that we have, as believers, been given the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit, to choose at every step of our lives whether or not we will continue to sin. We have the ability and the freedom to choose whether or not to obey the truth which is God’s Word. To obey! Not just to believe, but to obey through our words, through our choices, through our behavior. James wrote:
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22 NIV).
There is a very real sense in the American Church today that we believe we don’t have to obey the Word of God, that we can live as we choose and God will forgive every sin. It’s as if we believed that God is actually tolerant of our sin. "Well, He knows I’m a sinner. He knows I can’t help it, and that’s why He forgives me (over and over and over again)." This is such a fallacy. God is never tolerant of sin. He hates it with a vengeance.
"Kiss His son, or He will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for His wrath can flare up in a moment." (Psalm 2:12 NIV).
"You are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with You, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence. You hate all who do wrong; You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Lord, detest." (Psalm 5:4-5 NIV).
"God is a righteous judge, a God who displays His wrath every day." (Psalm 7:11 NIV).
There are many more similar scriptures, enough for us to be convinced that God hates sin and He hates it in us! He understands our moral frailty and He gave us His own Holy Spirit so that we would be able to choose to please Him, rather than to sin. When we are careless with our choices, we come close to crossing a line (or may even cross it) where we go from being God’s beloved to God’s enemy. We may even cross into that state where our sin becomes more important to us than pleasing God. And after that, what can I say? For there are those who named the name of the Lord Jesus, who served Him with their hearts and lives, but since have become enemies of God! They are among those with whom even now we wrestle within the American culture, those who have set themselves up to destroy the American Church. These very people were once Christians! But no longer. At some point, they allowed the sin in their lives to become more important than their relationship with God.
How can we avoid that in our own lives? James wrote:
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. . . . The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness." (James 3:13, 17-18 NIV).
How do we purify ourselves? What is the truth that must be obeyed? James delineates some of it in chapter 3: a good life, deeds done in humility, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
What is a good life? The KJV translates the Greek as "out of a good conversation his works." The Greek word for conversation is anastrophe (Strong’s G391) and literally means "a turning back." Good is from kalos (Strong’s G2570) meaning good, honest, approved, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, morally good. Thus, James is literally talking about turning our lives back to purity and moral goodness. And that is always a choice. What do we listen to? What do we watch? What do we say? Where do we draw that line of compromise? In all things, are we living purely?
The other part of this is humility. And this is a humility that is first toward God and then, as a result of our relationship with God, toward those around us. About the word prautes (Strong’s G4240), Vine’s writes:
"Prautes denotes ‘meekness.’ In its use in Scripture, in which it has a fuller, deeper significance than in nonscriptural Greek writings, it consists not in a person’s ‘outward behavior only; not yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and content with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect’".
There is a very real sense of absolute trust in God in this humility which allows us to walk through any circumstance of life, fully believing that God is in control and is working "all things" for our good. It is this trust which empowers us to live a good life, to behave in sincere humility, to be peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
How we respond to those who would harm and despise us is a true measure of where our relationship with the Lord is. Are we more concerned about getting vengeance or even making sure everything is fair than we are about their eternal salvation? Are we so mistrusting of God that we are afraid life on His terms simply won’t measure up to the life that we think we can carve out for ourselves?
A life that has chosen purity will be able to love with a love that mirrors the love of our crucified Savior. We will be able to follow Him through the agony of the cross, completely surrendered to whatever the Father wills for us, knowing that His plan is always good. A life that chooses purity will fully and quickly put away anything and everything that displeases Him so that we may become the people that He wants us to become. A life that is pure will choose His truth every time in every way without ever looking back.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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