Fall 1981
Purify Your Heart
E.V. Baker

Every man will receive his own reward according to his own labour. We need not get discouraged because someone is getting the credit that belongs to us. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (I Corinthians 3:13).

God will weigh us up at exactly our worth. He will search all our works to see what our true motivation has been, and whether there be any pride or self-seeking factor that would cause us to take any glory to ourselves because of them. All believers shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ without disguise. We will be unmasked so that what we are, not only what we have done, will be seen.

For instance, we must be careful not to allow pride to enter into our spirits. There are many forms of pride. We may be proud of our social position or our education; of certain gifts that we have; or of our executive ability, i.e. our power to do and bring things to pass. However, Jesus did not regard the opinions of people. He came to do His Father’s will and did not think of Himself at all.

Criticism or a critical spirit is another area of which we must rid ourselves. It is utterly contrary to the spirit of Christ. This does not mean that we will never see the faults in others. Seeing them is one thing, condemning and criticizing them is quite another. Our “seeing” should become an opportunity to hold them up before the Lord in prayer.

The Lord is dealing with His people. He is dealing sharply now, because He wants to get us out of these things, lest He come and find them in us. God is saying, “I have been bearing a good while with you, but now the time is up, and I cannot bear with you in that thing any longer.” If we turn away from the voice of the Spirit and do not heed it, if we will not take discipline now, if we will not let the Holy Spirit talk to us and deal sharply with us in these things now, God will have to deal with them before the judgment seat of Christ.

We see things in people that are dead wrong and we justify a certain attitude of soul toward them, but God says, “I will be merciful to the unrighteous.” While you see them full of pride and self-sufficiency and all in themselves, if you turn away in disgust it will keep you from entering into what the Lord is doing. To say, “I tried to love them” will not do. The Lord can change the attitude of your soul toward those who have wronged you until you can really love them. The Lord wants us to purify ourselves from attitudes that are wrong and unlike Him. “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” (I Peter 1:22).

The Lord also rejects an unforgiving spirit. There is much in God’s Word concerning this. We who have received so much forgiveness from the Lord have no right to react in the spirit of unforgiveness toward those who have wronged us. When we see what we have been, clearly perceiving our own faults and how much the Lord has forgiven us, we should be more than willing to forgive others.

When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, God will call things just as they are. He will remind us of the times He tried to deal with these attitudes, offering us many opportunities to rid ourselves of them at the cross. We cannot be rewarded for our refusal to have our hearts cleansed.

We must trim our lives according to the Word of God, which is so plain and explicit concerning these areas. We should allow the Lord to deal with us now. The time is short. Now is the race for qualifying. Make speed, make speed.