Acts 15:7-9
"And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.'"
God knows my heart. He knows how weak it is when it comes to sin. He knows when my heart yearns to know him. He knows when my heart is ignoring him. He knows who sits on the throne of my will. Know this for sure. Your heart cannot be hid from the Lord, no matter how hard you may try.
It is because of God's knowledge of our hearts that he acknowledges our turning from sins and surrender to Jesus Christ through faith by sending the Spirit to live within us. God sees our hearts and sends his presence to mark us as his own. Every believer is touched of the Spirit.
Notice the last few words of this text. With the Holy Spirit abiding with those whose hearts are turned to him, God is now at work purifying our lives. Our hearts are made clean, no longer defined by sin, but now alive in the holiness of God.
Of course, every believer knows they still give in to sin. While this rightly causes sorrow in our lives, we humbly know that purification is still being done in us by the Spirit. One day, all sin will be fully removed as God transforms our bodies in the second resurrection of the church.
Until then, the goal of the Christian life is allow the Spirit to purify us more and more so that we reflect the glory of Christ to the world around us.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for the purifying presence of your Spirit within my life. Still, I long for the day that sin is fully removed and this body is made whole in you. Amen.
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