A Year with Jesus: 'Move Toward Perfect Beauty & Holiness'

Dear Precious and Holy One,

When you became My disciple, you were made "holy, blameless, and totally free of imperfection" by My blood that "bled peace into the world" and My flesh that "reconciled you in [My] body" (Colossians 1:19-22). As Paul told My Corinthian disciples:

Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who comes from God and dwells inside of you? You do not own yourself. You have been purchased at a great price, so use your body to bring glory to God!
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

I left My place of power, security, and position in heaven. I left it to come and live among you and endure the worst of your world (Philippians 2:5-11) to make you precious and holy. The cost was high and the process was painful. However, My sacrifice was worth every drop of blood, every lash upon My skin, and every puncture wound in My body to make you precious and holy. So please, as Paul urged the Corinthians, don't pollute what is pure. Don't make what is precious into something ordinary and profane. Don't make common what is holy and reserved for honoring Us - Father, Son, and Spirit.

I know that some people bristle at the thought of behaviors being either good or bad. They don't want anyone to tell them what is righteousness and what is evil. They don't like morality to be defined in black and white, light and darkness. I also know righteous-looking behaviors can cloak a bad heart. So I understand the skepticism some people have. That's why I often answered questions about hard issues with questions. My questions made people examine their own hearts. I asked those questions so that My disciples would have to look deeper within themselves rather than My simply giving them another set of rules that they could manipulate and appear to be holy while having evil in their hearts.

Many of life's behaviors can fall into what you might call a gray area. However, the gray area is in your behavior, not in the underlying motive or intention of your heart. Read that again. Accept it for the truth it is. Either you do what you do because of your love for your Father and your love for your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40), or you do it for some other questionable or bad motive. The behavior may not be wrong, rebellious, sinful, or unholy in itself. But if your heart is trying to get away with as much as possible without technically violating a command, then the behavior is wrong because your heart is wrong.

Don't intentionally live in the gray areas of life. Don't spend your time trying to stay in the gray as close as possible to what is wrong. This legalistic game reveals the real desires of your heart. It shows that your heart has not been captured by the cost of My love to make you "holy, blameless, and totally free of imperfection"! Your response to My love should be as Paul urged the Corinthians in the verses below. You should want to "scour the filth from [your] flesh and spirit and move toward perfect beauty and holiness."