pure
According to Our Design
By Linda Rex
April 14, 2024, 3rd Sunday | Easter—Many years ago, I sat in biology class and listened to my instructor talk about how a plant grows. One of the students raised their hands and asked, how does a leaf know when it is done growing? I wondered this too, thinking to myself, how does a leaf know when it is supposed to stop developing? How does the plant know to stop growing that leaf and to start growing another one?
Not being a biologist, nor a teacher, my understanding of these natural processes is quite limited. But the simple understanding I came to that day was that written into the very being of the plant was the blueprint of its design. Because the cells of the plant knew its design, what it ultimately was to be, that is how they multiplied and developed together, to create a plant uniquely like the design written into its very being. As stems were formed, leaves grew, flowers unfolded, and seeds developed, each fulfilled its original design—unless something interrupted or twisted that process. Then the plant would not grow properly and would be flawed.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 John 3:1-7, the apostle John says that each and every person on this earth has a unique design—to be the children of God. John says that not only, because of Christ, will we one day be God’s children, but that even now, this is our divine design. Created to live in right relationship with God and one another, humans were meant to love and be loved, to live in other-centered self-giving love within the divine fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just as the unique equal Persons of the Triune God live in oneness and unity, each of us as unique, equal human persons were meant to live together in union and communion with God and one another.
To live in any other way than that in which we were designed to live, is to live in the way the apostle John is describing here when he says “sin is lawlessness.” The law of love—for Jesus said this was his command, to love one another as he loved us by laying down his life—is the law we were designed to live. This is our spiritual DNA so to speak. Jesus Christ has lived our life, died our death, and risen again, restoring us to our original design as the image-bearers of God we were created to be. Now we are to grow up into the fullness of who we are in Christ.
In this passage, note that Jesus Christ is the pure one, into whose purity we live. Jesus Christ is the righteous one, into whose righteousness we live. The truth of our human design is found in Jesus Christ—the only human, perfected and holy, who lives in face-to-face intimate communion with our Father in the Spirit, even now. Jesus invites us into that glorious embrace, and gives us his Spirit so that we can participate fully in it even now as we trust in him. It is Christ’s life of faith, his life of worship, praise, and prayer we participate in. He is the One we will one day look like, when we see him in glory. What a great hope this is!
Until that day when Jesus returns in glory and establishes the new heaven and earth, our human existence will be in this place where we are fully broken and sinful, but at the same time fully pure, accepted, forgiven, redeemed in Christ—our true life is hidden with Christ in God, as the Scripture says. Caught in this place where, in Christ we are already-but-not-yet all that we need to be, we live each moment in full dependency upon Christ. We are beloved children of our heavenly Father—so we live into that reality, trusting Jesus to finish what he has begun in us by his Spirit.
The good news is that Jesus Christ has done all that is needed for us to live in right relationship with God and one another now and forever. This does not mean that we live however we want. What it means is that we begin, by the Spirit, to live into the truth of our original design. We begin to simply be who God, in Christ, has created us to be. We allow God to live in and through us, for the sake of others, just as Jesus allowed his Father by the Spirit to live in and through him for the sake of us all. Whatever road this may take us down—and Jesus ended up going down the road to death and resurrection, for our sakes—we follow Christ, and allow his Spirit to finish what he has begun in us. We trust in God’s perfect love, and that what he has designed and forged into our human flesh will be perfected in us, just as it was perfected in Jesus Christ, in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and in the giving of his Spirit.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for including us in your life and love, through your Son and by your Spirit. Enable us to see and know our original design, to be those who reflect your likeness, the other-centered self-giving love you are in your very Being. Forgive us for all the ways in which we corrupt and disrupt this divine design—we receive your cleansing and renewal, in your Son Jesus and by your Spirit, and ask that we may live into the fullness of all you meant us to be as your adopted children. Amen.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; …” 1 John 3:1–7 NASB
“Consider the amazing love the Father lavished upon us; this is our defining moment: we began in the agape of God—the engineer of the universe is our Father! So it’s no wonder that the performance-based systems of this world just cannot see this! Because they do not recognize their origin in God, they feel indifferent towards anyone who does! Beloved, we know that we are children of God to begin with, which means that there can be no future surprises; his manifest likeness is already mirrored in us! Our sameness cannot be compromised or contradicted; our gaze will confirm exactly who he is—and who we are. And every individual in whom this expectation echoes also determines to realize their own flawless innocence mirrored in him whose image they bear. Distorted behavior is the result of a warped self-image! A lost sense of identity is the basis of all sin! (… Sin is to live out of context with the blueprint of one’s design; to behave out of tune with God’s original harmony. It is to be out of step with your true sonship! … The root of sin is to believe a lie about yourself, which is the fruit of the “I am-not Tree”. This was also the essence of Israel’s unbelief that kept them trapped in a grasshopper-mindset for 40 years. …) We have witnessed with our own eyes how, in the unveiling of the prophetic word, when he was lifted up upon the cross as the Lamb of God, he lifted up our sins and broke its dominion and rule over us! To abide in him in uninterrupted seamless oneness, is to live free from sin. Whoever continues in sin has obviously not perceived how free they are in him; they clearly do not really know him. Little children, do not be led astray by any other opinion; his righteousness is the source of our righteousness.” 1 John 3:1–7 Mirror
See also Luke 24:36b–48.
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Seeing More Than Just This
by Linda Rex
One thing I’ve noticed since moving to the metropolis of Nashville is how common it is to find television sets in restaurants. Thoughtful restaurant managers keep the volume down but turn on the captions so customers can follow what is happening. Others don’t seem to care what’s on the television or whether or not customers can understand what is going on.
I remember sitting in a restaurant last year and counting at least ten TV’s, most of which were located in or near the bar. While customers were eating, they could watch sports events, game shows or the local news. The captions helped us to see what the story was about.
The other night I sat in a tiny restaurant with two televisions, one of which was showing the local news with the volume turned down and the captions turned off. I watched this TV for a while, trying to see what was going on with the severe weather threat I was sitting out, but I couldn’t figure it out—I don’t read lips. The other TV was showing a Marvel cartoon series and had the volume turned all the way up. But I had my back to the television, and I couldn’t see the show. Personally I would have preferred having both TV’s off so I could hear the great jazz music being played on the other side of the restaurant. But that’s just me.
Having access to televisions as well as smart phones and tablets means we are constantly being exposed to visual stimuli. No matter where we turn, we are seeing something which is impacting us in some way. This impact can be positive or negative, depending on the content of what we are seeing. And our brains and psyches are processing this massive amount of material moment by moment. It is no wonder we feel stressed out and overwhelmed at times.
I’m not against TV’s, smart phones or tablets. I think they are great tools for living when they are used with wisdom. But also I think they can distract us from taking the time and making the effort to look at so many other things which matter and which are of lasting value. We can be so busy looking at this visual content we don’t take time to look within ourselves or into the Word of God, or try to see the spiritual realities we are included in through Jesus Christ and by the Spirit.
The apostle Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). But walking by sight is a whole lot easier—it comes naturally to us. Seeing with the eyes of faith means we must stop believing everything we see. What we see, feel, touch—what our senses tell us—does not always speak the truth when it comes to things of the Spirit or the things which have to do with the person God made us to be in Jesus Christ.
Isaiah had a vision of God seated on his throne. The beauty, majesty and glory of it all overwhelmed Isaiah—in seeing God for Who God was, he saw himself for who he was. His response to this vision of God was “Woe is me, for I am ruined! … I am a man of unclean lips, …” He saw the spiritual realities for just a moment, and his unworthiness and brokenness crushed him. God sent his angel to offer him mercy and cleansing, otherwise he could not have borne the spiritual insight being given him.
I’ve often thought about Jesus’ words spoken in his Sermon on the Mount—he said the pure in heart would be blessed, for they would see God. At first glance it seems he is talking about when we all die, and is saying if we’ve been good people, then we will get to have the blessing of seeing God. But really—who among us can really say to the core of their being, they are pure in heart? I know I would like to be, but I also know I am not.
Only Jesus, when he died and when he lived on earth while sharing our humanity, was truly pure in heart, and only he has seen the Father and lived. For us as human beings, to see God and live required God to enter our humanity and become one of us. When we see God in Jesus his Son, we see ourselves as forgiven and beloved children, not as broken rejects or unworthy throw-offs. Our purity of heart comes from Jesus.
The eyes of faith enable us to see God, for Jesus was and is the perfect ikon or exact representation of God’s being (Heb. 1:3). And in seeing God in Jesus by the Spirit, we are abundantly blessed. Our relationships with the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit, which we share with one another in the Spirit, are spiritual realities, which if kept in the forefront of our mind and heart, provide us with joy, peace and hope in the midst of whatever life may throw at us.
This is why it is important for us to slow down and look at these spiritual realities, which involve the eyes of faith rather than the touchy, feely visual stimuli of our technology-driven world. Taking time to look at Jesus Christ enables us to see beyond our flawed humanity into the humanity God created for us in his Son and by his Spirit in which we can see God and live. We can, in taking these moments for reflection and contemplation of the spiritual realities, begin to see ourselves and God for who we really are, and be blessed by the grace and love inherent in our relationship with the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit.
When we take the time to contemplate and reflect on God and our life with him through Christ and in the Spirit, we begin to find a capacity to see the world around us and the people in it with new eyes. Our brokenness and struggles become the common brokenness and struggles of every other human being. The grace we receive through Jesus is the same grace offered to every other man, woman and child who lives in this cosmos. And the broken creation becomes a place where God is at work even now to heal, restore and renew, and in which we can participate in his work of bringing about a new way of living and being that has eternal value. May we learn to see with Jesus’ eyes of faith.
Holy Father, thank you for giving us new eyes through your Son Jesus and by your Spirit. Thank you for enabling us to see the true spiritual realities—may they grow more clear to us day by day, and may they fill us with joy, hope and peace. May your grace and love keep our hearts pure so we may see you in us, with us and for us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Isaiah 6:5–7 NASB
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 NASB
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