How Do You Think You Could Become Pure Without the Mercy of Jesus?

Good Morning Friends,

Perfection is not something we achieve by effort. It is more like tending soil—slow, humble work that prepares the heart for God’s transforming presence. Today’s scriptures give us deeper images: the Refiner’s fire, the High Priest who shares our flesh, and the Light who enters the Temple. They remind us that any purity we gain comes not from ourselves, but from the King of Glory’s love. These three passages tell a single, beautiful story: God comes near. So, How Do You Think You Could Become Pure Without the Mercy of Jesus?

Scripture: Malachi 3:1–4 • Hebrews 2:14–18 • Luke 2:22–40

Message: Malachi tells us that the Lord comes like a refiner of silver—burning away what cannot remain so that His people may offer their lives in righteousness. This is not destructive fire, but covenant love, the kind that stays with us in the heat until His image is reflected in us. Hebrews shows us how this refining happens: Jesus became like us in every respect. He shared our flesh and blood, entered our suffering, and through His death broke the power of the one who held us in fear. As our merciful High Priest, He knows our weakness and helps us in our testing. And in Luke, we see the promise fulfilled. Simeon and Anna—faithful, waiting, listening—recognize the child Jesus as the Light for the nations and the glory of Israel. God has come to His temple. God has come to His people. God has come to purify, redeem, and dwell with us. We all wait for many things—peace in our homes, healing in our nation, clarity in uncertain times. But beneath it all, what we truly long for is the love that purifies, the presence that steadies, the hope that does not disappoint. Christ’s love is a baptism of fire, and His Spirit continues the slow, holy work of refining our hearts.

And So, we lift our heads, as the psalm says, and open the gates of our lives to the King of Glory. We trust that He will heal what ails us, strengthen what is weak, and shape us into His likeness. Sanctification is never finished, but God is faithful to complete the work He has begun.

Pray our Lord Jesus, refine our hearts with His holy love. Pray Jesus reveals what needs cleansing and gives us the grace to yield to the transforming work or the Holy Spirit. Pray God’s light pierces the darkness in our lives and comforts our fears and shapes us into Christ’s image. Pray our lives reflect divine glory as we wait for the day all things are made new. 

Blessings,

John Lawson