I Just Want To Be Pure

In February, I heard a man tell his story of going into a college campus. He preached the Good News, many were baptized, and you know what he heard over and over from these young people turning to the Lord?

They said, “I just want to be pure.”

There’s a generation who was raised in perversity, with images pushed into their faces and their feeds. There’s a generation who has been groomed in school and even at home. And they are crying out for their innocence restored. I’ll never forget the cry of their hearts.

“We just want to be pure!”

Purity of heart is worth more than gold. Purity of heart creates a safe place for children to grow, experience the world, and step out in courage.

“Who can ascend the holy hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and pure heart.”

Psalm 24:4

Clean hands and pure heart! That’s what we want! To rest and heal in God’s presence with a clean conscience and purity of heart. But how do we get clean when past mistakes, bad choices, traumas, and abuse smear condemnation and guilt on our hands? And how do we have a pure heart when we’ve been exposed to more darkness than a child should ever witness or experience?

We can try, but no good deeds can wash off dirt put on us unwillingly by others through trauma and abuse. And no good deeds can hide the mess we got into ourselves by our own bad choices.

Only Jesus.

So… “Who can ascend the holy hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and pure heart.” Psalm 24:4

Only Jesus lived his life with a pure heart and clean hands. That’s why He is the only one who ascended the holy hill. He carried his cross up the hill, beaten so badly he did not even resemble the likeness of a man. Thrashed and beaten. And yet, He didn’t lash back. He kept his heart pure and his hands clean. The cost of sin is death, so he paid the price for us with his own blood. The pure and powerful blood of Jesus is the only thing that can wash away the dirt on our hands and the yuck we feel in our hearts.

When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and pay the cost for our sins.

And when we put our faith in Jesus, His purity of heart is credited to our account.

So it is by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus that we are made clean, pure, and redeemed. This is how God made a way to save us from the filth on our hands and the dirt in our hearts.

So… “Who can ascend the holy hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and pure heart.” Psalm 24:4

Jesus made a way for us to have clean hands and pure heart too. He made a way for us to go be in the presence of a holy God and experience the powerful adoption as a child of God! Even grown men who were abused as kids and have done unspeakable things with their grown hands are given the grace through Jesus to become pure-hearted children again, children of God.

A Prayer for Clean Hands & A Pure Heart:

Jesus, I believe in you.

I believe you took my sin and nailed it to that cross that day. I confess my sin to you now so I can be forgiven, healed, whole, and set free. (Take some time to confess now. This is key to having clean hands.)

Thank you for your undeserved forgiveness and mercy. In the same way you’ve forgiven me for the ways I’ve wronged you and others, I also choose to forgive those who have wronged me. (Take some time to release those who have hurt you and forgive them. This is key in having a pure heart.)

I believe you set me free when you paid the price for my mess and sin. I believe you died, rose on the third day, and ascended to heaven. And I believe you sent the Holy Spirit in your stead, and invite Him to fill my heart.

Set me apart. Make me clean. Wash away the guilt, shame, and condemnation of my past. And make me entirely new. A new creation. A child of God. A pure-hearted, faith-filled child with clean hands. I want to live for you, Lord God. And I want to walk I your hands in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I want to live my life with a purity of heart.

I want to become a disciple of you Jesus and learn more of your gently and humble ways. I want to be baptized in water as a living picture of the cleansing you’ve done in me today. And I want to be baptized in the fire of Holy Spirit, purifying my heart and giving me power to walk I your ways, sharing your salvation, deliverance, and Good News with others too.

Thank you God for making a way for me to become pure and clean again. Thank you for the relief and the saving grace that’s in your presence. I praise you for giving me freedom from condemnation and torment in my soul. Thank you for setting me free! I praise you Jesus for you are good and kind and merciful, forgiving, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast unconditional unrelenting love for me. I want to be more like you. So I give you my whole heart and soul today, and I choose to follow closely to you all the remaining days of my life.

In Jesus’ mighty powerful name I pray,

amen