Day 237
I John 3:3
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
Referring to the appearance of Christ, John exhorts the believers to purify themselves. This is a process, not a one time deed. We have come a long way. God has done a great work in us, but He is not finished yet.
It is important that we understand that this purifying of ourselves is not a self-righteous act. It is our yielding to and cooperating with our Lord, who is actually doing the work in us.
In Philippians, Paul taught us to be confident that God, who has begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Christ. In Ephesians, he speaks of Christ sanctifying and cleansing the church with the Word. God does the work and gets the glory. Our part is to yield to and cooperate with His instructions.
We do not need to be unreasonably hard on ourselves, thinking we are so messed up and may never be pure. We cannot fear being unworthy at His appearing. As long as we are doing what we know to do and correcting those areas that need correcting as the Holy Spirit points them out to us, that is all God expects of us. He has given us his righteousness. That, and not our good works makes us worthy.
I will purify myself continually by cooperating with the spirit of God, as He instructs me in the way I ought to go. God will never give up on me, as I continue to depend on Him