Last week we learned about unity or oneness. This week will we discuss another important key to effective evangelism – purity.  A church body must have purity in order for evangelism to be effective. We must define purity from the same standpoint as the Apostle Paul did in I Timothy 1:5, where he links a pure heart to a good conscience and sincere faith. In Philippians 4:8, Paul encourages us to focus our minds on what is good and pure. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our hearts with all diligence because out of it, comes the issues of our life.

     The heart is the center of our emotions and it controls our entire being.  Christians must invite God to take control of all of their heart and make them pure as we renew our relationship with Him on a daily basis. God’s greatest commandment is to love Him with all our hearts. [Mark 12:30, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”] It is only God who can make our hearts pure and only He who can judge our hearts to be pure. Christians should regard purity to be more precious than life, for without purity we can never truly have life. The beatitude in Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

     Many Christians are not pure in heart even though they are trying to live a pure life. Many are routinely overcome by sin and disobedience in their life. Christians must repent and ask God to forgive their sins and lukewarm attitudes toward purity. We should pray for power from God to overcome impurity in every area of our life. God is ready and willing to help us have a pure heart. When we have a heart is pure we will hunger for God.  God dwells in a pure heart so we can live in harmony with Him. When God dwells in our heart, He has our entire being – meaning He has everything else of us, or all of us. If God doesn’t have our heart, He really doesn’t have none of us, or nothing at all.
     A pure heart gives us freedom from sin based on our pure motives and the power of the blood keeping us safe in times of temptation. It doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes but we will be cleansed from all sin and perfected in holiness in the loving fear of the Almighty God. Psalm 24:3-4 tells us in part, that those have clean hands and a pure heart shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place.  [To be continued next week.]