To Encourage You

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.”

Isn’t it interesting how fashions change over the years?  I recall when I was in high school.  It was a time when most guys wore their hair much longer than they do now.  For girls, mini skirts were very popular.  I remember how basketball shorts used to be so much shorter than they are now.   It’s interesting how we look back at things that were all the rage at one time and chuckle to ourselves when we see photos from that era now.  Why does this happen? Who sets the trends? 

I suppose the media has the strongest influence. People want to look like the people they look up to, be it movie stars, musicians, professional athletes, or the models they see on magazine covers.  Or perhaps we just get tired of one fashion and want something new.  As there’s a groundswell of people that are looking for change, and as more and more people start to dress in new ways or wear their hair in a new style, we apparently don’t want to stick out too much, and we follow the crowd as a rule.  It’s all external in its nature – a desire to look a certain way because we, for whatever reason, want to look like someone else.

But what’s our fashion sense concerning internal things. What are we modeling ourselves after on the inside, for we are told that while “man looks on the outward appearance, . . . the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). 1 Peter 3 puts it this way when speaking to women (who were likely just as fashion conscious in his day as they are today): “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”  Christians do this by emulating the One Whom we say we follow.  We want to look like Christ on the inside. That’s our highest ideal. 

It’s interesting that the Bible has very little to say about Jesus’ physical appearance.  We know he had a beard, but not much else.   But we know a great deal about how He looked on the inside, for that’s the focus of what God would have us to know about Him.  Then as we look at ourselves in comparison, we see many ways in which we are different.  Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that if we are truly followers of Christ, it will be our highest desire is to look like Him on the inside, in matters of the heart. 

In the verse above from 1 John 3,  we are told that we will one day see Christ as He really is.  It’s talking about when believers will see Jesus with their physical eyes in heaven someday.  Obviously, we will see what He looks like on the outside, but more than that, we will fully know how awesome He is on the inside.  That will be the focus, even when we can see Jesus with our own two eyes.  And, incredibly, we are told that we will be fully like Him at that time.  This speaks of how the saints will be glorified to become fully like Christ in their very nature. That’s our hope. That’s what we want to look like. That’s our highest goal.

But while we wait, we still want to be like Him as much as possible in the here and now.  We want to be pure, for that’s what He is. He’s the undefiled, innocent, and spotless Lamb of God.  As John tells us in the verse above, if we really want to emulate Him, we will “purify” ourselves.

So how do we do this?  What’s purity “look” like on the inside.  Well, we all know what filthy talk, pornography, and dirty thoughts are.  They are things defiled by sin. They are the opposite of things that are pure.  And for the one who wants to purify himself or herself, they will not want things that are filthy, spiritually or morally speaking, to mark their lives. Rather, they will fill themselves with the Word of God, for “every word of God is pure” (Psalm 30:5). As they reject the filth of sin and fill themselves with the Word of God, they will be obeying this command from Philippians 4:8 : “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.”  In another place it’s called “the washing of water with the Word” (Ephesians 5:26).  It’s as we spend time with the One we emulate by reading and meditating on His Word that we are, in essence, gazing at His glory.  The Bible tell us that “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we spend time with Him, Jesus Himself does a cleansing work in our lives. 

This reminds me of the account in which Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.  Peter was indignant and refused Jesus’ offer to wash his feet.  It was then that Jesus told him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”  At this Peter replied, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” And then this from our Lord: “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you” (John 13:10).  With these words Jesus was talking about how the person who is a believer has been purified.  Their sins have been forgiven, and they are seen by the Father as those who are “as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).  The only one to whom He spoke these words that did not have this purity was Judas Iscariot, who never believed in Him.  And yet, wonderfully, while every believer is positionally pure in the sight of God, which is an incredible truth,  practically, God calls us to be what we are, i.e., to live a life apart from the defilement of sin.  We do this as we spend time with Christ in His Word where Jesus Himself, as we see in the beautiful picture of foot washing, cleanses us daily by transforming our minds. As we are washed by the Word (which points both to the Incarnate Word and the written Word) He cleanses and renews our minds so that our thinking and living conform to that pure Truth.   

May God help us to fashion ourselves on the inside by looking to the One who is perfectly pure.  May that be our focus – the “style” of our hearts, rather than the fashions, whatever they might be, of how we dress or wear our hair.