Already you are clean
because of the word that I have spoken to you. - John 15:3
Later, he speaks of those who reject him:
If I had not come and spoken to them,
they would not have been guilty of sin,
but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Our response to God's word determines its effect on us. Either we honor God's word or we do not. Both responses cause a profound effect on our lives. We have two alternatives: clean or dirty, innocent or guilty, with no ambiguous grey area between the two extremes.
In last Friday's Old Testament section, we see Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, as he fluctuates between the two extremes. For the most part King Jehoshaphat does things God's way in government, and causes a lot of good things to happen for his nation. Yet he stumbles, going into battle as an ally of evil.
Christians today suffer the same conflict; for the most part we honor God's word with a willing heart, yet at times we may act in direct and willful contradiction to what the Bible says. I pray you and I will have the grace today to respond with a willing heart to the word of the Lord, so that we'll stand before him clean and innocent.
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