Clean Hands And a Pure Heart Are Not The Same As Perfection

Clean hands are a big thing these days, as they always should be. Good physical hygiene is important to good health. Good spiritual hygiene is important for good health too.

³ Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
    And who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not lift up his soul to what is false
    and does not swear deceitfully.
⁵ He will receive blessing from the Lord
    and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Psalm 24:3-6

Clean hands and a pure heart are keys to entering the presence of the Lord, but what does that look like? Assuming we are not delusional, we all know we are not good enough to be in the presence of perfection, which is the definition of holiness. Our Lord is the one who took the initiative to fix the problem of our separation from His holy presence.

When we believe that Jesus died on the cross so we would not have to suffer the eternal consequences of our separation from our Creator we begin our eternal relationship with the Lord. We may have natural consequences to suffer for our behavior. But even that will not prevent God from loving us and walking with us through our tough times.

When we agree with God that we have messed up, we can know that we are forgiven. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” God himself cleans our hands and hearts so we can be together.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded … Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:8, 10. God comes close and blesses us when we seek His face in relationship more than His hand fro meet our needs and wants.

We prove this true when we depend on the Holy Spirit to help us to keep looking at God. Let’s stop allowing our past to define us. Job tells us, “The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”  Job 17:9

Let’s not allow the lie that we are not good enough to keep us from God’s presence. Keep “short accounts” with God by asking for forgiveness the first time the Spirit prompts.

May we all know that we have been chosen by the Living God to walk in His ways to reconcile people to God. Keeping our hands clean and hearts pure we naturally shine brightly in the darkness.