2 Corinthians 6:16 For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
Joshua 24:14-24 “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
“It is not a question simply of trying to empty your heart and life of every worldly desire – what an awful impossibility! The heart of man will chase and seek after something to fill it and give it satisfaction, purpose, meaning. This is how we were designed. What fills our hearts is what we chase after, what we allow in. We know we are born with a sinful nature and this sinful nature will seek after all that is self-satisfying, self-reliant, self-praised, and selfish. Simply trying to empty our hearts of these self-centered desires is impossible. What is a person to do? How are we to empty our hearts of these desires when it is always chasing after them? Coming to Jesus Christ, repenting, truing away from sin, believing, trusting, obeying, honoring, following, and relying on Him alone, gives us a new birth, (born again, new creation) and now we are able to discern right from wrong, truth from false, light from darkness, and we can intentionally choose to live every day with the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Him in all we do, think, and say. It is when we surrender our self-centered, self-worthy, and self-reliance and choose to fill our heart with the love of Jesus Christ will we find it is not so much a discarding and emptying or our heart of worldly desires but a filling of godly good, truth, and purpose.
