Latest Devotion
A Clean Heart
By: Kathie Welch
Friday, May 30, 2025
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
One night I saw a flash of lightning streak across the sky. As it did, it illuminated clouds that were hidden by the darkness. When the lightning revealed those clouds, I noticed it was unable to completely shine through them. It was a vivid illustration of how the Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts. The Holy Spirit exposes sin that prevents God's light from shining through us! Lightning is intense, but it doesn't penetrate dark clouds. So it is with God’s Spirit. It exposes sin, but it cannot shine through it. To be a light in a dark world, we need to rid ourselves of any sin that hinders God's light.
If we are serious about saying “Yes Lord", we must be just as serious about saying “No” to sin (Hebrews 12:1). We need to ask (and allow) the Holy Spirit to examine our lives regularly. Are any worldly attitudes, habits, or thoughts influencing us? Is anything tainting our witness? When other people see things like that in us, they will probably think one of these two things:
- We're a hypocrite that is only acting religious.
- Those sins are O.K. and they're not a big deal to God.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
After we acknowledge our sin, we must confess it to God and ask Him to remove it. If we've sinned against others, we may need to admit it to them and ask for their forgiveness. Confessing we were wrong to an unbeliever is an open door to tell them about Jesus and God's forgiveness. It may even help them understand that Christ followers aren't perfect, we're just forgiven. Getting worldly influences out of our lives opens spiritual doors and allows God's influence to flow through us and out of us.
Have you ever considered the spiritual influence you may have? You might be somebody's only connection to Jesus! When other people look at your life, what do they see? Do they see a life compromised by worldly attitudes and behaviors? Or do they see a life that is consistently lived under God's influence? Take that mindset a little further and ask yourself this important question, “Is my life leading people towards Christ or away from Him?”
If you don't like your answer, confess anything the Holy Spirit reveals. Then, ask Him to create a clean heart in you. Let's make sure our witness honors God. Christ follower, be real. Our world has a real need for genuine believers!