God want us to clean out defilements not just of our body but also the defilements of the soul.
Remember, what Jesus told the Pharisees. Clean the inside first and the outside will follow. So many times we focus more on removing public sins and sinful activities from our lives. We don’t drink. We don’t engage in immoral sexual activities. We dress modestly. We don’t curse or say the Lord’s name in vain. We don’t lie. The list can go on and on.
We want to look the part of a Christian. And frankly, those sinful activities are often much easier to identify and to focus on stopping. Don’t get me wrong – Paul tells us we must cleanse ourselves of our bodily defilements but it doesn’t end there.
We must cleanse ourselves of our spirit’s defilements – the defilements of the heart. These are much easier to pretend we don’t do, harder for others to spot, and much harder for us to identify and work out.
🧑🌾 Hypocrisy.
🧑🌾 Pride.
🧑🌾 Jealousy.
🧑🌾 Covetousness.
🧑🌾 Vain worship.
🧑🌾 Condensing attitudes.
🧑🌾 Judgemental.
🧑🌾 Grudges.
🧑🌾 Hate.
🧑🌾 Lust.
🧑🌾 Greed.
The sins of the heart and spirit can go on and on and on. These are the sins Jesus wanted the Pharisees to focus on and to realize that as long as these remained, no matter how godly they appeared outwardly – they were still unclean and defiled.
Paul tells us to cleanse both our body and spirit and in so doing we will bring holiness to completion by our fear and obedience to God.
Cleanse both the body and soul. Both must be cleansed of defilements to bring our holiness to completion. This cleansing is a process we must engage in every day. Every day it will be a battle but we must try and in so doing we will please God and show His glory to the world.
Cleanse your body.
Cleanse your soul.
Bring holiness to completion in the fear of Jehovah God. #lessonsfromthemastergardener
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