Pure & Unashamed

Note: Today I’m just going to reference verses. If you are reading this on my blog (as opposed to in a reader or email), you should be able to scroll over the references and see the verses themselves pop up in a little window.

Today I’m not even sure where to begin. I’ve been stuck on 2 Tim 1:8 for three or four days, asking several questions of myself.

• Am I ashamed of His message, messengers, or their circumstances?
• If so, in what ways?
• Or am I simply cynical, lacking faith in the messengers?
• Is that the same as being ashamed?
• Would I join in the suffering of any of them, knowing it was for the sake of the gospel (a running theme in Phil 1, which I am still working to memorize).

Then there’s 2 Chron 5:13-14. The worship there at the dedication of the temple is so pure. So real. So beautiful. It grabs me and makes me hunger to be right there with them, praising God in such an amazing corporate setting, and seeing the overwhelming glory of God descend. My heart pounds, my breath catches, and chills cover my skin just thinking about it.

Somehow it all comes together in my mind. There is an overwhelming desire to be pure and to truly give my all for the gospel, suffering joyfully with my dedicated fellow believers.

I’m far from there. There is much clutter in my life. I have not put aside the flesh and the world in so many ways, and it keeps me from true purity. The cynicism I mentioned earlier truly is there, and it keeps me from sharing in the work with other believers.

But, I’m challenged to get there. And I desire to start today.