Proclamation:
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let
us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NIV)
Explanation:
These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the
influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth . The promises which Paul is referring to are:
1. that God will receive us if we obey Him, 2. that He will be a Father to us,
and 3. we will be His sons and daughters. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18) Paul says that since we have these promises
from God, we should purify our body and spirit of everything that contaminates
us, out of reverence to Him.
Application:
We should encourage one another to engage in holiness of
heart and life and not in the sinfulness of the flesh or evilness of
spirit. We need to lead a clean life if
we want God to treat us as His children.
We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, but we contaminate our
heart and mind daily with our sinful thoughts, words, and actions. That is why we need to pray, confess, and ask
to be forgiven daily in order to be cleansed from our unrighteousness. (1 John
1:9) We also need to turn from our
sinful ways. (2 Chronicles 7:14) We
cannot clean ourselves up, our heart, mind, or spirit, only God can do that for
us. (Psalm 51:10)
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