Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

1 Timothy 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1 Peter 1:22 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:

Psalm 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

When I left off yesterday with that earnest plea, be holy for God is holy, I felt a tinge of conflict in my mind, my understanding. I did not feel it in my heart.

I know I am a sinner saved by grace. I know that I have sin, God is not a liar. I know I have no strength within me to perform that which I know is right. I also know that a clean conscience is tied to the motivations of my true heart condition and not my fumbling bungling attempts to perform holiness.

That is why I began by quoting scriptures related to the pure heart. God has gone through an enormous amount of trouble in order to change our hearts. We judge words and deeds, God judges the heart.

1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

I talked about reputation yesterday. How many people actually have an opinion about me? My circle of influence is pretty small. I don’t make that much of an impression on the world. Why should anyone think about me?

Then it struck me, God thinks about me. Unlike our human perspective, He does not hold an opinion, He is Truth and truth is not an opinion. That is hard to grasp from the human perspective. The God of the universe, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, thinks about me.

I wonder sometimes exactly how much of what God thinks about me is played out in my life. In Jeremiah He declares thoughts of peace and not evil. It is His thoughts that generate a specific will which is carried out, because God’s will be done. Not from a perspective of obedience of faith but simply because God thinks about me.

When I was in rebellion, I didn’t care what anyone thought about me. When I came to Christ I cared what my God thought about me. It was as if His opinion was the only one that mattered. Coming to the realization that God does not have an opinion was an eye opener.

He knows my every thought, even before I think them. His thoughts towards me are instrumental in relationship with Him as it affects my opinion of myself. That is the primary concern He has, that I should have a healthy, productive, and secure conscience.

Being holy secures a clean conscience.

1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.