Bible Reading: John 17:9, 17

Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth.   John 17:17

Pa and Ma had spent their whole lives raising five sons on a little place out in the middle of nowhere, completely out of touch with modern culture and its technological advances. But one day Pa reckoned it was time to see what city life was like. So he and the family headed for the bright lights and skyscrapers of the big city.

Arriving in the heart of downtown, Pa and Ma and the boys couldn’t believe what they saw. They wandered the streets, mouths a-droop. While Ma explored a dress shop, Pa and the boys stepped into the lobby of a ritzy hotel.

Pa’s attention was immediately drawn to a tiny little room with shiny brass doors. He watched with interest as a frumpy old lady walked up to the doors and pushed a button. Soon the brass doors slid open, the old lady stepped in, and the doors closed again. Pa watched curiously as lighted numbers flashed above. Then the doors opened and a gorgeous young woman in a tailored suit stepped out.

Pa’s eyes bugged with astonishment. He watched the beautiful woman walk away, then looked back at the little room with brass doors. “Boys,” he said to his sons excitedly, “go and get your mother.”

Don’t you wish it were that easy to change something about yourself—not just the way you look, but maybe an ugly habit? Or perhaps you have wrong attitudes and actions, and you wish these would magically disappear. It would be nice to step into a little room, push a few buttons, and step out completely changed.

God wants all of us to be good. As Christians we would like to follow God’s instructions, but by the end of practically every day our actions and attitudes slap us in the face, reminding us how unholy and impure we are. If getting pure and holy is up to me, we might figure, it’s never going to happen.

King David knew that getting good wasn’t all up to him. He wrote, “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word and following its rules” (Psalm 119:9).

Every time we dig into God’s words of truth, Christ’s prayer for purity is being answered in us. Purity happens when we daily welcome God’s Word into our life. The change might not be as quick and dramatic as the change Pa thought that little elevator room could work. But we are being transformed, changed to be like Jesus, because that’s what Jesus prayed for.

TALK: How does it make you feel that Jesus would pray for your purity—and that God would send his Word so it could happen?

PRAY: God, as we read your Word, make us pure.

ACT: Don’t miss taking time alone with God, reading his Word today.

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