Purity of Truth Determined by Morals

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true ... think on these things" (Philippians 4:8)

The light has shown upon men and nations, and (God be praised) it has shone with sufficient clarity to enable millions to travel home in its glow; but no believer, however pure his heart or however obedient his life, has ever been able to receive it as it shines from the Throne unmodified by his own mental stuff.

As a lump of clay when grasped by the human hand remains clay but cannot escape the imprint of the hand, so the truth of God when grasped by the human mind remains truth but bears upon it the image of the mind that grasps it.

Truth cannot enter a passive mind. It must be received into the mind by an active mental response, and the act of receiving it tends to alter it to a greater or less degree.

Of course I refer here to theological and religious truth. How pure this truth is in any place at any given time is revealed by the moral standards of those who hold the truth. Spiritual truth (by which I mean the disclosures of the Holy Spirit to the human spirit) is always the same.

Wherever the Holy Spirit still comes, He will always be found witnessing to Jesus and honoring the Son of God.

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Nothing to Be Ashamed Of

"Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ... Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:, 10)

Let me venture an opinion here. Jesus was in harmony with nature in this world and I am of the opinion that the deeper our own Christian commitment becomes the more likely we will find ourselves in tune and in harmony with the natural world around us.

Some people have always scoffed at the habits of St. Francis as though he probably was not in his right mind. I have come to believe that he was so completely yielded to God, so completely and fully taken up with the Presence of the Holy Spirit that all of nature was friendly to him.

Brethren, I am not ashamed of this world - I am only ashamed of man's sin. If you could take all of the sin out of this world, suddenly extract it, there would be nothing in all the world to be ashamed of and nothing to be afraid of.

The heart of the Holy Spirit is intensely concerned in preserving us from every stain and blemish and bringing us into the very highest possibilities of the  will of God.

~A. W. Tozer~