“Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;
I am clean from my sin”?“
Are you a good person?
Every now and then you’ll hear someone say,
“I’m basically a good person.”
Perhaps you’ve even said something similar yourself.
Usually what we mean is that we haven’t committed any major crimes. We try to be kind. We work hard. We help people when we can. Compared to the worst examples we can think of, we seem to be doing fairly well.
But Proverbs asks a different question.
“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin?'”
The expected answer is simple:
No one.
That can be difficult to accept because we naturally compare ourselves to other people. We look sideways instead of upward. As long as someone else appears worse than we are, we begin to feel reasonably confident about ourselves.
We also don’t like to think of ourselves as not being a good person. Even those we could consider “bad people” often rationalize their actions to make themselves out to be a good person.
God’s standard, however, is not “better than average.”
It is holiness.
Not merely outward obedience, but purity of heart.
When we honestly examine ourselves, that standard leaves us with nowhere to hide. We remember the words we wish we could take back. The selfish motives behind seemingly good actions. The opportunities to love that we ignored. Even our best days are stained by sin.
That realization is uncomfortable. But it is also the beginning of hope.
As long as we believe we can make ourselves pure, we will keep trying to fix what only God can fix. We will measure ourselves against others, excuse our failures, or convince ourselves that we’re doing well enough.
Proverbs strips away those illusions.
Who can make his own heart pure?
No one.
But what we cannot do for ourselves, God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Jesus lived the perfectly pure life that we have not lived. He carried our sin to the cross and gave His life in our place. Through faith in Him, our guilt is forgiven, and His righteousness is credited to us. We do not stand before God because we have cleaned up our own hearts. We stand because Christ has cleansed us and made us holy.
That is wonderfully freeing.
We no longer have to pretend. We can confess our sin honestly because we know God’s mercy is greater than our failure.
So today, don’t ask whether you’re better than someone else.
Instead, rejoice that your hope rests in Someone greater than yourself.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father,
When I compare myself to others, it is easy to think I am doing well enough. But Your Word shows me the truth about my heart. I cannot make myself pure, and I cannot remove my own sin. Thank You for sending Jesus to do what I could never do. Thank You for His perfect life, His sacrificial death, and His victorious resurrection. Forgive my sins, renew my heart, and help me to live each day in the confidence that my salvation rests not in my goodness, but in Your grace.
Amen.
As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:
After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
