A believer in Christ is to be pure.
In one sense, he already is. The blood of Christ has been applied to his life, and all the impurity of his life — past, present, and future — has been removed. He stands guiltless before God. (That’s an amazing sentence!)
But in another sense, he is not. He still struggles with the flesh and every day he is reminded that while he is growing towards Christ, he is yet imperfect in that growth and purity.
So how can he know if he is pure? Meditating on Mt. 5:8, D. A. Carson has provided the following questions as examinations of our purity:
- What do you think about when your mind slips into neutral?
- How much sympathy do you have for deception, no matter how skillful?
- For shady humor, no matter how funny?
- To what do you pay consistent allegiance?
- What do you want more than anything else?
- What and whom do you love?
- To what extent are your actions and words accurate reflections of what is in your heart?
- To what extent do your actions and words constitute a cover-up for what is in your heart?
