Message summary: We are to be transformed into the image of Christ. Our God calls us to a life of purity even as we live in an impure world. Let us indeed cry out today as His children, "Purify My Heart!"

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"Teach me Your way, Lord, that I may rely on Your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your Name" (Psalm 86:11). "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).

Jim Thorpe is a small mountain community in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region, the County seat of Carbon County. Several times a year we enjoy going up that way to ride our bikes on the Lehigh Gorge rail trail. In the photo Brooksyne is standing in front of a single chunk of Anthracite coal near the railroad station. It weighs nearly 8 tons which would be enough to heat our home for over two years! The small plaque at the bottom states that this big chunk of coal is black diamond and is 99% pure carbon. A genuine diamond is 100% pure carbon.

God calls us as His children to be pure. "When He (Christ) appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." May God give each of us the kind of hope that the Apostle John is speaking of, for this is the blessed hope of the Christian. The death of a loved one serves to crystallize such hope. The prospect of a glorious reunion with those who have gone before us prompts us to closely examine this type of hope and indeed can make it even more certain in our hearts.

May you find great assurance in the glorious phrase that has brought assurance and comfort to millions throughout the ages: "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

This securely founded expectation of total transformation has practical implications now. Those who have this hope "purify" themselves. "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." The word for "purify" is derived from the same Greek word from which we get "holy". Our God is absolutely pure and holy and His children who have the hope of seeing Him will continuously purify themselves. (The Greek is very clear in the tense here).

Jesus Christ is not only the pattern, but also the motivation and means for this purity. Today the world will seek to conform us into its image, so we must be alert and intentional in living our lives separate from the evil influences of the world.

We are to be transformed into the image of Christ. Our God calls us to a life of purity even as we live in an impure world. Let us indeed cry out today as His children, "Purify My Heart!"



Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, like the Psalmist, I pray that You will teach me Your way and that I will rely on Your faithfulness with an undivided heart. Give me a pure heart that I may fear Your name. When I'm tempted to compromise my faith help me to remember that You want a pure heart, one that is not trying to serve both God and man. I want Your favor more than the approval of others, so help me to stay true to Your principles and reject that which contradicts or lessens the full meaning of Your written truths. In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.

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"Refiner's Fire"  Video  Brian Doerksen

"Undivided Heart"  Video  Brian Doerksen

"Come Alive (Dry Bones)"  Video  Lauren Daigle

"Single Heart"  Video  Craig Smith

"Pure Heart"  Video  Craig Smith

"Give Me An Undivided Heart"  Teaching on Precept Austin online commentary