1 Peter 1:22-25

“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

 

How do we become pure? I mean, I know if we take a bar of Ivory soap and few minutes of careful scrubbing, we can clean our hands or even our whole outside, but what about the inside? I’m not talking about your spleen; I’m talking about your soul. How can we clean and purify our souls? No doubt, much like our hands get filthy by living and shaking hands, and opening restroom doors, and using the knob on the water-fountain, picking our noses and ears, and all types of gross things, our souls get just as filthy by the foul things of this world. The TV shows we watch, the things we read on Facebook, the games we play, the conversations we hear, the emotions that we feel and allow to lead to sin, all of these things slowly but surely cover our souls and minds with smut and filth that impede our ability to serve and love God and others well. So, how do we clean up our souls? Well, according to verse 22, we “purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” How do we “obey the truth through the Spirit?” We purify now the same way that we first purified ourselves to salvation. It has three major components, two are Divine (from God) and one is human (of man). The Divine components of our purification are listed there in vs. 22, “Truth” and the “Spirit.” The human component listed there is “obedience.” God’s word calls us to do specific things, His Spirit constantly woos us, and it is our job to surrender to the Spirit that is ministering to us with God’s Word. For example, Scripture says “Flee youthful lusts,” and the Spirit points out the areas in your life where instead of fleeing, you are running head long into lustful situations, and the remaining component is the one that you are involved in, namely, obey God’s Word and His Spirit. So how do you do? How are you doing with obedience to Truth and the Spirit?

Food for Thought: What are the three components listed today as what helps us purify ourselves? List an area in which you could better purify yourself.