New Mercies Each Morning

This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.

Lam. 3: 21-24

These are more than just nice sounding words on a page . These are absolute truths. Every day can be a new beginning, no matter how bad we blew it the day before.

Pride is so sneaky. Sometimes I think I'm doing well. It's easy to think of others and how they might be failing in one way or another. But the Spirit pulls me up short and I realize in this thick skull of mine that I am no better than any of them. We all need God's mercies.

If I do well, it is because He helps me to avail myself of His neverending supply of mercy and grace. If I fail, He is not surprised, He  wants me to come back to Him. Could we really think that God is surprised by any of our failures when He knew every day that was appointed to us? (See Psalm 139.)

Christian, do you, or could you, really believe these gracious words?

Come to Me, all who are growing weary to the point of exhaustion, and have been loaded with burdens and are beneath their weight, and I alone will cause you to cease from your labor and take away your burdens and thus refresh you with rest. Take at once my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find cessation from labor and refreshment for your souls, for my yoke is mild and pleasant, and my load is light in weight.*

* The New Testament, An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest, Teacher Emeritus of NT Greek, The Moody Bible Institute, 1956.

A. T. Robertson, in his Word Pictures of the New Testament, Volume 1, Kregel Publications, 2004 Revised and Updated by Wesley J. Perschbacher, says this of Christ's yoke:

Jesus promisess that we shall find his yoke greatly lightens the burden, "Easy" is a poor translation of chrestos ( χρηστός  ); Moffatt puts it "kindly."... We have no adjective that quite carries the notion of "kind and good." The yoke of Christ is useful, good and kindly (cf. Song 1:10). 

So, if you think living the Christian life is hard, think again. It was hard for Him, so it could be easy for us to receive a new start and His mercies each day. 

 Christianity isn't a list of rules but a relationship with the Living God. And He is the One who accomplishes it in us as we simply let His Word dwell richly in our hearts.

Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. I Thessalonians 5:24

For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Phil. 2:13

Finally, remember Jesus' gentle rebuke to Martha when she was so busy trying to serve Him. He simply said:

...Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10: 41-42 

Jesus did everything necessary to make me good before God. He is a good and kind Master. When I fail Him, I come again to His throne of grace and receive abundant mercy.

Who His own self bare our own sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.                 (*my emphasis) I Peter 2: 24 

 

 

Where Your Treasure Lies...

The LORD is exalted,
for He dwells on high;
 He has filled Zion
with justice and
 righteousness. Wisdom
and knowledge will
 be the stability of
your times, And the
strength of salvation;
 The fear of the
LORD is his treasure.


Isaiah 33: 5-6






Where our treasure lies, that is where our heart will be, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21. That resonated with me this morning, even as the hymn on the radio reminds me that He alone is a shelter in the time of the storm.

God blesses me so much when I take the time to read His Word and commune with Him in prayer. It is my own little shelter from the storms of life. I used to think these were a "have-to," but now I realize they are such a wonderful "get-to."

I get to know the mind of Christ as I delve into His Word. Right now I have so many study tools available to me, it would be to my shame to neglect them. As I dig down sometimes into the meanings of the words, I am blessed to learn more and more about my wonderful Creator.

If I have wandered from Him through some sin, why do I ever think I could hide it from Him? He knows all things, He knows my failures. He is not mad that I failed, but wants to show me that I can only please Him by total reliance on Him, and not my own meager resources. I have nothing to offer Him but coming to Him and offering myself to Him each day as a living sacrifice. The enemy would want me to fear this as a difficult and scary thing, but the more I get to know Him, I only realize more and more how reasonable it is. Instead of running from Him like Adam and Eve I can run to Him anytime, anywhere, 24/7. He is always waiting there for me.

Here are some of my beloved study tools that have helped me to grow in the grace and the knowledge of my Lord and Savior. They have helped me to see God's Word is an unfathomable treasure trove. Maybe you might be blessed by some of them too.

• The Hebrew-Greek-Key-Word-Study- edited by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates     This Bible has a lexicon and word study aids and is most wonderful, explaining the deeper meaning of both Hebrew and Greek words. (Also available in other Bible versions.)   AMG Publishers
• The Complete-WordStudy-Dictionary-New Testament- edited by Spiros Zodhiates   I bought a copy in the hardback edition with some money I received from my birthday. It is a huge book and explains the meaning of the words in context. Not every word is used in the same way, and Zodhiates helps you to get the closest meaning for each particular usage.  AMG Publishers
• Interlinear-Greek-English-New-Testament- Jay P. Green, Sr.    I picked up this treasure at a rummage sale. It gives me the number from Strong's for each word. It also gives the literal translation. I use this in conjunction with the dictionary listed above. Wonderful.  Baker Books.
• Nelsons-Cross-Reference-Guide-to the Bible    This lovely hardback gives an abundance of cross references for the entire Bible. You can get lost in studying a word or concept here.
• New-Testament-Expanded-Translation by Kenneth Wuest    This expands the translation of the New Testament. Eerdman's Publishing Co.
• Dake-Annotated-Reference-Bible-KJV-Publishing/   (Also available in other Bible versions.) This study Bible is packed with cross references and thousands and thousands of study notes. I don't agree with him on everything, but his work is amazing in this study Bible. I got mine on a closeout one time from CBD at a very reasonable price. But the print in my version is quite small, it is not the large print, although a large print is available. Dake Bible Sales, Inc.

These are just a few of my favorites, but I thought in sharing them it might help someone else out in their walk with the Lord. Maybe you might be able to purchase one secondhand. In knowing Jesus, the Word personified, we can have stability in such uncertain times. Though the mountains quake and are cast into the depths of the sea, we do not have to fear.  (Psalm 46:2) We can be like the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily, to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Do you have any favorite study materials you would like to share? I would love to hear them!

Not even one thing...

Luke 12:25-30 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

Confession time. I have been a worrier all of my life. Let me correct that. I was a worrier, but I am now a new creation. That is the way God sees me, so that is the way I should see myself. But I was thinking a lot today about my history as a worrier. I actually used to think the above verse meant that Jesus said not to worry about those things, but it was OK to worry about other things, the things He did not mention. Things like whether or not people liked you, or whether or not a certain job would come through, etc., etc. That just shows how little I really knew about God. It was pitiful, really. And what a slap in God's face, after all He did for me.

Many years ago, when I was still in elementary school, a kindly neighbor (who I blogged on here about before) had a Good News Club for kids at her home once a week after school. I still remember seeing her face greeting me when I walked in the door. You see, I was worrying back then, in the fourth grade, and she was a good listener. I told her the things I worried about and she helped me with answers from the Bible. The biggest help she gave was telling us all how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Each week we had to learn Memory Verses. My sister and I cheated, we only learned them right before we ran down into her yard for the club meeting at her home next door to ours. But she acted all proud of us anyways, like we had done some great thing learning our Bible verses. Still, we managed to get them all recited, and our prize was a New Testament in a modern version called "The Greatest is Love." She wrote a verse in my Bible in the front that she thought would be a great help to me. Of course, it is a familiar verse:

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7

Now, her fight is over and she is with the Lord, but I remember her kind deeds with gratitude and look forward to seeing Mrs.P on the other side. Somewhere through the passage of years I have lost the Bible she gave me, but I can still see in my mind her giving it to me and the verse she wrote inside it. I thought I "knew" that verse, but every time an emergency came along, it seemed I still pressed the panic button instead of applying Philippians 4:6-7.

Well, let me tell you, I may have been able to recite that verse, but I know I did not "know" that verse. Yesterday, though, I had another little "emergency" come up and I felt like I wanted to press the panic button again. I can't go into detail but suffice it to say I chose to sing songs of praise when I was tempted to panic and I felt the most amazing peace wash over me, in spite of the tight place I found myself in. Suddenly I just wanted to praise Him more and more, He had given me the peace of God which passed all understanding which guarded my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I did not have to strain or struggle to get it either. It was simply a gracious gift. In the smallest way, I experienced the truth of that precious verse.

This morning I read in Philippians 4 and I read again Paul's instructions about not being anxious. He didn't just say, don't worry about things. Kenneth Wuest in his Greek New Testament Expanded Translation said this of Philippians 4:6-7:

"Stop worrying about even one thing, but in everything by prayer whose essence is that of worship and devotion by supplication which is a cry for your personal needs, with thanksgiving let your requests for the things asked for be made known in the presence of God, and the peace of God which surpasses all power of comprehension shall mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (emphasis mine)

Now if anyone reading this does not know Christ as their personal Savior there is plenty to be worried about. Things are getting too crazy to just be passed off as "nothing" anymore. Jesus said of these times: 25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (Luke 21: 25-26) (emphasis mine)

You, too, can have this peace that passes understanding. Now is the time to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who personally bore your sins on the cross of Calvary. For His return could be at any moment. You do not want to be left behind for the judgement that will follow on planet earth, called the Great Tribulation. Today is the day of salvation! He knew every sin you ever committed and already died for it. He also wants to take your worries and bear those also for you, for they are too much for you.Hear His gracious call today, before it is too late!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

He says to His children and to any and all who are longing to come into His family:

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

And for those of us who are saved, yes, it is really true, we do not have to worry about even one thing! Why? For we have a Heavenly Father who hears us when we call to Him with every single one of our needs. It is a much better way than worrying. Trust me, I know.

How Do You Know God?

"We have no need to fear of Someone Who loves us perfectly; His perfect love eliminates all dread of what He might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what He might do to us, and shows that we are not fully convinced that He really loves us." I John 4:18 (Living Letters: The Paraphrased Epistles by Kenneth N. Taylor

In my reading this morning, I came across a familiar passage from Matthew 25:24 when Jesus told the parable of the talents. Whenever I read those words in the past, I had a funny feeling that I could be the man who had one talent but buried it in the ground.

"Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed."

That is how I used to know God. How do you know Him?

The lord in the parable answered that his servant was "wicked" and "lazy" in verse 26 of Matthew 25. In the Outline of Biblical Usage, wicked is the Greek word ponēros (G#4190) and has these meanings:

I. labours, annoyances, hardships
A.
pressed and harassed by labours

B.
bringing toils, annoyances, perils; of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness; causing pain and trouble

II.
bad, of a bad nature or condition
A.
in a physical sense: diseased or blind

B.
in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4190&t=NKJV

The word for lazy is oknēros (G#3635) and it means in the Outline of Biblical Usage:

I. sluggish, slothful, backward

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3636&t=NKJV

For me personally, I see how in the past I was both wicked and lazy. (Let's call a spade a spade.) I did not know God as a loving Heavenly Father because I did not invest the time in finding out just what God's character was. The result was I ended up fearful, thinking God was always ready to "drop the hammer" on me.

How could I be fearful when it says this in Romans 8: 28-39?

"And we know all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God, and if we are fitting into His plans. For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him-and all along He knew who would-should become like His Son, so that His Son would be the first, with many brothers. And having chosen us, He called us to come to Him; and when we came, He declared us "not guilty," filled us with Christ's goodness, gave us right standing with Himself, and promised us His glory. What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God be on our side, who can ever be against us? Since He did not even spare His own Son for us but gave Him up for us all, won't He also surely give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No! He is the One Who has forgiven us and given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? NO! For He is the One Who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven. Who then can ever keep away Christ's love for us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because He doesn't love us anymore? And if we are hungry, or penniless, or in danger, or threatened with death, has God deserted us? No, for the Scriptures tell us that for His sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day-we are like sheep awaiting slaughter; But despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ Who loves us. For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can't and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, Or where we are-high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean-nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

from Living Letters, Kenneth N. Taylor

Tell me of another god who loves like this God? A god would actually bear that cross up Golgotha's hill willingly and not open His mouth against His accusers? I have never heard of any. Christianity is the only faith that is God reaching down to man, not man trying to reach up to God through works.

Each day I am gaining confidence in the love He has for me, and that He is involved in every detail of my life. That is why Jesus beckoned us in Matthew 11: 28-30 to come to Him. In Kenneth Wuest's expanded translation it says this:

"Come here to Me, all who are growing weary to the point of exhaustion, and who have been loaded with burdens and are bending beneath their weight, and I alone will cause you to cease from your labor and take away your burdens and thus refresh you with rest. Take at once My yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find cessation from labor and refreshment for your souls, for My yoke is mild and pleasant, and My load is light in weight."*

*My emphasis

Though I never knew the Lord to be that way, I one day decided it was high time for me to learn, and take on that gentle yoke. He never promises my life to be free from trials, but He does promise that He will give me rest through them. Each day, my pastor says, is given a "24 hour grace packet" by our loving Father.

I don't want to hide my talent in the ground. So I come to Him and learn of Him, of His graciousness, kindness and faithfulness. He promises He will never leave or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) If this is the kind of God that you want to know, I encourage you to come to Him today. As long as you are breathing, He will never turn you away. (John 6:37)

Returning to God's Garden...

Genesis 3:8-10 " And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where [are] you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Some might say that the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and hid themselves from God was the saddest day on planet Earth. But God was not surprised. He knew it was going to happen, since He knows all things, and He had a plan in mind from eternity past. (Acts 2: 23) For Christ would be our sacrificial Lamb, just as sure as Abraham was provided the ram caught in the thicket after being tested by God with offering up his beloved son Isaac on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22:13. (This was the very same spot where Jesus was crucified.) Think of it, Jesus was the Ram caught in the thicket for all of us.

But before Jesus came and died for us, God commanded Adam and Eve to leave the beautiful garden of Paradise. Adam was commanded to earn his food and provide for his family by the sweat of his brow. The curse meant no more fellowshipping with Christ in the garden of the cool of the day to be taught by Him. Now Adam and his family must be banished from the beautiful garden, and he must work and toil all his life. Moreover, the ground would not be kind to Adam, for "thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you" is what God told Adam would be the result of his labor in Genesis 3: 16a.

Sweating has been the story of mankind. Men work hard and their fortune can be wiped out overnight. One can break their back for a corporation, only to be let go when the economy declines. Security that seemed unending, gone in a minute. All that sweat, and what a tragedy as we see more and more homeless people who were once middle class. Do you really think this situation this will improve when we are trillions of dollars in debt?

In my reading in Ezekiel the other day, the prophet described the rebuilt Jewish Temple in the time of the coming Millenial Kingdom, when Christ will rule human history from Jerusalem for a literal 1,000 years while Satan is bound in the bottomless pit. (Revelation 20: 3) The Spirit caught my attention with the description of the priest's clothing in this passage, because it also has to do with sweat:

Ezekiel 44:17-18

"And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. 'They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with [anything that causes] sweat.'"

Now I wonder, why would the Lord not want them to sweat as they minister as priests in the Temple? After all, Adam and all his descendants have been sweating ever since that day when he and Eve were banished from the Garden.
Of course, I should know that the answer is found in one of the most important verses in the whole Bible! I like this translation from Kenneth Wuest in The New Testament: an Expanded Translation, because it gives the sense of the verse, and it was written as if it is happening right now, because that is how the Apostle John wrote it.

John 19: 28-30
"After this, Jesus knowing that all things had now been brought to a consummation and stood finished in order that the scripture might be fulfilled says, I am thirsty. A vessel was standing there full of sour wine. Then, after putting a sponge filled with sour wine around a hyssop reed, they put it to His mouth. Then when Jesus had received the sour wine He said, It has been finished and stands complete. And having bowed His head, He delivered up His spirit."

Who was in control there? Jesus was! He knew, at that exact moment, the most important moment of all human history, that all sins had been paid for. It was then, and only then, that the Lord gave up His human spirit. Thus the work was finished. The veil of the curtain in the Jewish Temple was torn in two at that exact moment as well, indicating God's satisfaction with Christ's sacrifice. (Matthew 27:51)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now, there is another tree in the Garden, and it is most wonderful. This tree is now available to us, with no sweating on our part, because of what Christ did for us that tragic but glorious day. This tree is called the Tree of Life. The fruit on this tree is not forbidden, we can partake of it as much as we want! In the New Jerusalem, established after the enemy of our souls is finally banished to the lake of fire, there will never again be a curse, no more death, no more sickness. Can you imagine a world without these things? By faith in what Christ did that day was for you personally and acknowledging that God raised Him from the dead, you, too, can be among those worshipping Him forever.

Revelation 22: 1-3:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Because He Loves Me...a Thought for the Ladies

Have you ever played the child's game while holding daisies in your hand, and as you pluck off the petals you say: "He loves me, He loves me not?" But if we played that game and it was Father God we were talking about, then we would be speaking complete foolishness.

For if we read our Bibles, we could never come to the conclusion "He loves me not." The Bible is a giant love letter from one end to the other, revealing God's love revealed to the infinite degree to a lost and hopeless human race who could not earn it or deserve it in a billion years.

"Yes," someone might say. "I've heard that a million times now."

But the real question is, "Do we believe that God really loves us and all that really entails?"

I speak from my own experience. Just recently, I had a chance to go see a doctor for a "free visit" so I thought I didn't need to consult my husband about it. If it didn't cost us anything, I reasoned, then I didn't need to check with him. But deep down, I was afraid that he would say no, so I just went ahead and did it anyway, not staying under his protective covering.

In the Bible, women are told to submit to their husbands for their very own protection. A woman can easily be deceived by the greatest deceiver of all time, as was demonstrated in the Garden of Eden way back in Genesis chapter 3. Eve willingly took the fruit from the serpent because she trulybelieved it would make her wise and be good for her. But Adam took the fruit from Eve because he loved Eve too much to be separated from her. He knew full well what he was doing though.

We women get ourselves into trouble when we don't trust that the Lord has put our husband over us for our protection. I didn't make it up, it is written in the Scriptures! And believe me, the first time I heard I had to submit in premarital counseling, I hated the very idea! In the natural, it does seem miserable and degrading,most certainly going against the grain of today's society.(Yet its commanded in I Peter 3:1, Eph. 5: 22, and Col. 3: 18 and follows in the footsteps of Christ, who submitted completely to the Father's will.)

When I returned from the doc's though, completely convinced that I now had the answer to my health problems and ready to invest a lot of hard earned money, I was ready to recruit my husband. He saw newfound hope for a cure for my problem and he went along with it.

But then I did more exploring. I looked up some names on the back of one brochure they had given me. I didn't like the huge marketing look to it all. I talked to a trusted Christian friend. She directed me to an article to read about the type of testing they did. After I read it, I groaned inwardly. I confessed my sin before the Lord.

All of this could have been avoided. I knew I should have asked my husband, even though it didn't involve money initially. When it got right down to it, I saw the reason I failed this test: I didn't believe that God loved me enough to provide the very best for me, even if my husband would have said NO. His NO would have been for my safety.

Submission is really not about you and your husband anyway. It is about you and the Lord. It is about trusting that He has allowed you to be with your man and that He will sovereignly guide you in your life through your husband. We ladies can battle that all we want, but early in my marriage I heard this Proverb and it froze me in my tracks:

Proverbs 14:1 "The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands."

Do you see how I could have hurt our finances? My husband went along but he told me if I would have asked in the first place he would have said no. We women have great power over our husbands.

Oh how I wish I would have applied Proverbs 14:1 part "a" from the minute I walked down the aisle! Thank God though, that He can redeem our mistakes:

Lamentations 3:21-3 "This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. [Through] the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. [They are] new every morning; Great [is] Your faithfulness."

Even if we have failed, God's mercies are fresh for tomorrow. Men crave our respect, even though society has ridiculed respect away from many of them. Have you noticed even the commercials make the men look stupid and the women look smart?

But the whole reason we can show respect and listen to our husbands, with God's enabling power, is because we are confident that God loves us and will meet our every need as we stay under the authority God has established for us as married women, and that is through our husbands, even if he is unsaved or ungodly. God is greater than that small difficulty and is still working all things for the good in your life if you are a God lover. (see Romans 8: 28)

Kenneth Wuest, expanded translation of I John 3: 1-3:

"Behold what exotic (foreign to the human heart) love the Father has permanently bestowed upon us, to the end that we may be named children (born-ones, bairns) of God. And we are. On this account the world does not have an experimental knowledge of us, because it has not come into an experiential knowledge of Him. Divinely loved ones, now born ones of God we are. And not yet has it been made visible what we shall be. We know absolutely that whenever it is made visible, like ones to Him we shall be, because we shall see Him just as He is. And every one who has this hope continually set on Him is constantly purifying himself just as that One is pure."

This is not our permanent dwelling place, so we don't have to be so comfortable here anyway. Let us concern ourself more about making sure we will be both close and pleasing to Christ when He comes back for us, and not have to shrink away from Him in shame. Amen?