The Effect of Smart Love
Smart Love review:
We are commanded to love. Not blindly, but with Smart Love. Smart Love leads us to obey. Jesus' love is smarter than smart.
But there's something else.
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ," (Philippians 1:9-10, NIV, bold words mine).
I talked about discerning what was best in my first Smart Love post. But I didn't get into the second effect:
"So that you may be pure and blameless."
Don't stop reading. Please.
[I was your age not that long ago. I would have rolled my eyes at the word "pure" because I felt like it was all anybody talked about in high school and college church groups. I was tired of hearing about it.]
But you know what? High school and college girls in general are pretty terrible about doing it. Living it. Believing what God says about it.
So this isn't just another lesson in purity. You've never heard it like this before. Just read it once and I promise you'll be smarter :) Thanks.
I looked up every word that was translated as pure from the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). In the Old Testament, the word used for pure most often referred to gold; when God wanted gold used in His Tabernacle or His Temple, He required pure gold. No impurities. Flawless. Free from defect or filth.
But a few times in the Old Testament the word for pure has a moral aspect: In Job, the word for pure is defined, "pure, clear, flawless, innocent, upright, justified, acquitted ("to act in a certain way"), moral purity as a superior quality."
Superior. Best. (Remember! Smart love allows us to discern what is best and be pure!) Pure means best. And it means you act like it.
[Hear me clearly. Not an "I am better than you" kind of best. But the kind of best that says, "God has chosen me, called me, and made me His own. I am AWESOME simply because of what God thinks of me." You can read more about that in #1 of my first post.]
There's another great word in the Hebrew found in Psalm 18:26, which says, "with the pure, You prove Yourself pure..." That Hebrew word means "to purge, be chosen, be choice, to keep clean, purify, cleanse, show oneself pure."
Pure is knowing you're chosen and intentionally kept clean. GOD IS PURE. When we choose to live purely, He shows Himself to us. And as we see that He is perfect purity, we want to also be perfectly pure.
One more Hebrew word is found in Psalm 24:3-4: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart..."
We can only be in God's presence if we're pure. That's pretty straightforward. God is pure. If you want to be near God, be pure.
Pure is much more than what you thought. Much more than "without sex before marriage," which is what most people mean when they talk about purity.
But SMART LOVES ENABLES YOU TO BE PURE. Really pure. Without impurities. Superior. Chosen. Clean. WITH GOD.
Do you want to be pure? NOT BY THE DEFINITION YOU ALWAYS KNEW. But by the Hebrew definitions. God's definitions.
Some girls don't want to be pure. They can't believe God chose them and that He thinks they are best. Special. Different. Set apart. Holy.
Do you believe you are holy?
Because if you don't believe that, you won't think of yourself as pure. And you won't live in a constant state of cleansing to stay pure.
Here's the truth: you're not holy. But God can make you holy. Not because of what you do or don't do, but because HE IS HOLY (Leviticus 11:44-45). And because He makes us holy, we choose to live holy. Pure.
Choosing purity changes everything. Don't just take my word for it; take God's. His Word teaches you all you need to know about purity.
Start asking God to show you where you're not pure. I'm going to do the same. Because this is not a lesson just for high school and college girls. It's for all women. All believers.
Smart Love gives you the power to be pure. More tomorrow.
I LOVE YOU!
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
We are commanded to love. Not blindly, but with Smart Love. Smart Love leads us to obey. Jesus' love is smarter than smart.
But there's something else.
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ," (Philippians 1:9-10, NIV, bold words mine).
I talked about discerning what was best in my first Smart Love post. But I didn't get into the second effect:
"So that you may be pure and blameless."
Don't stop reading. Please.
[I was your age not that long ago. I would have rolled my eyes at the word "pure" because I felt like it was all anybody talked about in high school and college church groups. I was tired of hearing about it.]
But you know what? High school and college girls in general are pretty terrible about doing it. Living it. Believing what God says about it.
So this isn't just another lesson in purity. You've never heard it like this before. Just read it once and I promise you'll be smarter :) Thanks.
I looked up every word that was translated as pure from the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). In the Old Testament, the word used for pure most often referred to gold; when God wanted gold used in His Tabernacle or His Temple, He required pure gold. No impurities. Flawless. Free from defect or filth.
But a few times in the Old Testament the word for pure has a moral aspect: In Job, the word for pure is defined, "pure, clear, flawless, innocent, upright, justified, acquitted ("to act in a certain way"), moral purity as a superior quality."
Superior. Best. (Remember! Smart love allows us to discern what is best and be pure!) Pure means best. And it means you act like it.
[Hear me clearly. Not an "I am better than you" kind of best. But the kind of best that says, "God has chosen me, called me, and made me His own. I am AWESOME simply because of what God thinks of me." You can read more about that in #1 of my first post.]
There's another great word in the Hebrew found in Psalm 18:26, which says, "with the pure, You prove Yourself pure..." That Hebrew word means "to purge, be chosen, be choice, to keep clean, purify, cleanse, show oneself pure."
Pure is knowing you're chosen and intentionally kept clean. GOD IS PURE. When we choose to live purely, He shows Himself to us. And as we see that He is perfect purity, we want to also be perfectly pure.
One more Hebrew word is found in Psalm 24:3-4: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart..."
We can only be in God's presence if we're pure. That's pretty straightforward. God is pure. If you want to be near God, be pure.
Pure is much more than what you thought. Much more than "without sex before marriage," which is what most people mean when they talk about purity.
But SMART LOVES ENABLES YOU TO BE PURE. Really pure. Without impurities. Superior. Chosen. Clean. WITH GOD.
Do you want to be pure? NOT BY THE DEFINITION YOU ALWAYS KNEW. But by the Hebrew definitions. God's definitions.
Some girls don't want to be pure. They can't believe God chose them and that He thinks they are best. Special. Different. Set apart. Holy.
Do you believe you are holy?
Because if you don't believe that, you won't think of yourself as pure. And you won't live in a constant state of cleansing to stay pure.
Here's the truth: you're not holy. But God can make you holy. Not because of what you do or don't do, but because HE IS HOLY (Leviticus 11:44-45). And because He makes us holy, we choose to live holy. Pure.
Choosing purity changes everything. Don't just take my word for it; take God's. His Word teaches you all you need to know about purity.
Start asking God to show you where you're not pure. I'm going to do the same. Because this is not a lesson just for high school and college girls. It's for all women. All believers.
Smart Love gives you the power to be pure. More tomorrow.
I LOVE YOU!
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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