Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2Co7.1 NKJV
The promises mentioned above are quite clearly the Lord Almighty’s pledge to be our God and Father. There is a condition to this promise. Those who would be in such a relationship with Him, are expected to act in a manner that conveys that He is. God would not be good if He did not hate all that is not good. He consequently looks upon our physical and spiritual sins with contempt. We do well to note the difference. We are all guilty of animal lusts and more so of spiritual perversions. The latter precedes and is far worse than the first. For instance, a hungry man may steal bread. Pride has him asking himself, “Do I not have the right to take what I need, even if by force.“ Our flesh may covet our neighbors spouse, pride tells our heart that we have the right to do it. One may even commit this sin of demons by admitting to themselves that they are sinful and then say in their heart, "Well at least I have admitted it when others do not." Pride is the great spiritual sin which produces all others. This is why one brother has succinctly written, "…a cold self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute."
And though there is a difference between the sins of the flesh and the sins of the spirit, both are appropriately described as filth. Before God all sins are disgustingly dirty, morally unacceptable and despicable.
We need to take care here, that we do not fall into the trap of thinking that we can make ourselves worthy of God. That is just another expression of our pride that has gotten us into this mess. No, we cleanse ourselves by humbly confessing that we are filthy and need to be washed in the cleansing sacrifice of Christ. Our bath is first a spiritual one and because of this healing of our heart there is naturally an outward flow into our behavior. 8/16/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
