WHAT DOES PURE HEART, GOOD CONSCIENCE, AND SINCERE FAITH GET YOU?
Read time: 4 minutes
“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5 NIV)
Love is the answer. If we are to love, we must maintain three things: heart, conscience, and faith. Only with God’s help will we find success.
Giving up control of our lives to God is a daily exercise. Each day we must seek Him, allowing Him to search our hearts for iniquities. In other words, the wickedness inside all of us. When God’s light falls upon it, revealing it to us, our hearts become pure. We clear our conscience as we confess our sin to Him, having faith He forgives us.
Life is demanding. None of us know what the day ahead will bring. Moments happen and change our lives forever. COVID is one we all experienced. One week, routine, the next week, we’re quarantined in our homes, everything closed. The reality of the last several months is becoming a reality for all of us. Clinging to God during difficult times is challenging. But if we are to love, to Him we must look.
God’s love provides the way.
God sent Jesus to provide a way for us to love. Because of His actions on the cross, God forgives our sins. Jesus paid the price for us. Believing in the resurrection requires faith in what God says is true. When Jesus asked God to forgive us, minutes before taking His last breath, we must believe God did. We can allow Him to reveal our iniquities to us because we know He’s already forgiven us. As the knowledge of God’s love fills our hearts, we can’t help but share it with others.
Paul shows us how we can find the strength to let God penetrate our hearts:
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 1:12-14 NIV)
Just as Paul relied on Jesus for his strength, we can do the same. Lean into Jesus’s example for us on how to cleanse our hearts and clear our conscience. Lay our burdens at the foot of the Cross. The price of sin paid, we live in the truth of the resurrection—God’s love is for all who accept it. When we do, we give God access to our hearts.
In His love, He will purify our hearts, cleanse our conscious, and build our faith as we seek Him daily.
Question of the Day:
Have you allowed God access to your heart?
Further Reading:Jeremiah 28-29 NIV, 1 Timothy 1 NIV, Psalm 86 NIV, Proverbs 25:17 NIV
