Does Your Hope Inspire Purity?

          In 1 John 3:1-3 we read, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall see be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

          What is your greatest hope? What is the one thought, the one anticipation, which gives you the strength to endure through any hardship you face in this life? Is it not that Heaven waits at the end of the road? Is it not that eventually you will see Jesus Christ as He is and be transformed to be like Him? For the Christian, there is no greater hope than this.

          John says that it is the Christian’s hope that inspires his or her efforts to live pure lives. Indeed, that Christ was and is pure motivates Christians to conform to His image. John’s message in these verses challenges us to examine our lives to see if purity is found there. Our goal is to be pure as Christ is pure. This means that our goal is to live sin free lives.

          Perhaps at times we satisfy ourselves with being “mostly” pure. Maybe we have a sin or two that we just aren’t quite prepared to rid ourselves of yet we comfort ourselves with the thought that we’re not as bad as the people we work with or live around. James makes an interesting statement concerning the sins of the tongue in James 3:11. He says, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” Have you noticed that whenever you add any pollutant to pure water it is the purity that is destroyed, not the pollutant? For instance, a tall glass of the cleanest water becomes polluted when just a single drop of black ink is added. The same is true in our lives.

          None of this is to say that salvation is the result of our own works (Ephesians 2:8-10) for then we would have no need for a Savior. It is to say that the wonderful hope our Lord so graciously provided ought to mean so much to us that the very manner of our lives is brought into conformity to His. His life was one of perfect purity and our goal is to imitate Christ.

          Do you genuinely long for Heaven? Is being changed and seeing Christ as He is really your greatest hope? Rather than answering with just a few words, answer with a purified life.