Friday, January 04, 2008

Clean Heart, Part Two

Wow! Great comments last time we approached this subject! Did you all read some of the words mentioned...

Peace

Freedom

Breaking Through

Praising God immediately, even before we "feel" clean!

Obedience

Pure

And more. These are amazing words!

Just before Thanksgiving, I started a new spiral notebook for thoughts on this topic. Here's what I wrote down for my initial thoughts...
Clean heart, clean home, finances, motives, clutter cleared and possessions pared down, clean schedule, greater emphasis on God and His Word in our home - training our children; prayer. Physically and spiritually clean.
Then - I started by looking up every reference to the word clean in the NIV Bible. I wrote all the references down one edge of the page (it took several pages!) and then allowed one line per reference. On each line, I wrote a brief recap of that passage and how it related to clean.

In addition, the number at the beginning of the line represents which definition the word correlates to when we look at the Hebrew/Greek meanings of the words ~ I'll be sharing on this after we look at all the passages.

I know it is easy to skim over the Old Testament passages knowing that lots of these references were in relation to sacrifices and rules or regulations that we are not bound to under the new covenant. However, I know that God included each word in His Holy Word for a reason. So, I believe that we can learn something even through parallel in these Old Testament passages. Hang in there with me and let's learn together!

The first thing we can realize, is a thankfulness in not being bound by all of the sacrifices and regulations. We can be thankful that Jesus came to fulfill all of these requirements for us and to cleanse us before God!

There are simply too many for one post - but, here is the first batch:

1: Genesis 7:2 ~ clean animals entering the Ark
1: Genesis 7:8 ~ pairs of clean and unclean animals entering the Ark
1: Genesis 8:20 ~ Noah's sacrifice upon exiting the Ark was clean animals and birds
2: Genesis 20:5 ~ Abimelech took Sarah into his home believing she was unmarried and with "clean" hands; Abraham and Sarah lied about being brother/sister
1: Leviticus 4:12 ~ regulations for the sin offering
1: Leviticus 6:11 ~ regulations for the burnt offerings
1: Leviticus 7:19 ~ meat that touches anything unclean must be burned up
1: Leviticus 10:10 ~ the priests and Levites were to set an example by distinguishing between clean and unclean; they and their households
1: Leviticus 10:14 ~ see Leviticus 10:10
3: Leviticus 11:32 ~ certain unclean animals and what they touch can become unclean; they were responsible for distinguishing between clean and unclean
1: Leviticus 11:36 ~ see Leviticus 11:32
1: Leviticus 11:37 ~ see Leviticus 11:32
1: Leviticus 11:47 ~ see Leviticus 11:32
3: Leviticus 12:7 ~ purification of uncleanness after childbirth
3: Leviticus 12:8 ~ same as Leviticus 12:7
3: Leviticus 13:6 ~ regulations about infectious skin diseases
4: Leviticus 13:7 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1/3: Leviticus 13:13 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1: Leviticus 13:17 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
3: Leviticus 13:23 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
3: Leviticus 13:28 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
3: Leviticus 13:34 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
4: Leviticus 13:35 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1/3: Leviticus 13:37 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1: Leviticus 13:39 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1: Leviticus 13:40 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1: Leviticus 13:41 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
3: Leviticus 13:58 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
3: Leviticus 13:59 ~ see Leviticus 13:7
1: Leviticus 14:4 ~ description of how to be cleansed from an infections skin disease which had caused uncleanness
3: Leviticus 14:7 ~ see Leviticus 14:4
3: Leviticus 14:8 ~ see Leviticus 14:4
3: Leviticus 14:9 ~ see Leviticus 14:4
3: Leviticus 14:11 ~ see Leviticus 14:4
3: Leviticus 14:20 ~ see Leviticus 14:4
3: Leviticus 14:48 ~ process for cleansing a home from the uncleanness of mildew
3: Leviticus 14:53 ~ see Leviticus 14:48
1: Leviticus 14:57 ~ see Leviticus 14:48
1: Leviticus 15:8 ~ description of discharges that cause uncleanness and the details of their becoming clean again
3: Leviticus 15:13 ~ see Leviticus 15:8
3: Leviticus 15:28 ~ see Leviticus 15:8
3: Leviticus 16:30 ~ we must be cleansed for our sins; Day of Atonement
3: Leviticus 17:15 ~ eating a found animal or one torn by other animals made one unclean
1: Leviticus 20:25 ~ make distinctions between clean and unclean animals; do not defile yourselves
3: Leviticus 22:7 ~ touching anything unclean made a priest unclean until sunset

Thoughts? I know that I am being challenged in areas where my heart could use some cleaning and I am thankful that God is gentle in His correction.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Monica,
Wow, God has alot to say about cleanliness!!! For His peoples good to be sure. I to am thankful Jesus fulfilled so very much, that i never could. And that He does have our best for His best in mind when He is trying to *clean* us. Fear, Worry, Insecurities, Anger, Gossip to name a few of the *dirty things. He is merciful and gentle. Thru the cleansing process is no fun ,ah but the fruit He has in mind at the end--beautiful!! Thank you so much for sparking this thoughtfilled journey of introspective heart searching. May He who has called us find us faithful. I sure nuff lood forward to learnin and thinkin and yielding more on the *clean heart* tammyp

Anonymous said...

I have also been thinking about a "clean heart" for many months. I have been wondering if my heart is clean enough to ALWAYS point others toward Christ in EVERYTHING I do (thoughts, words, actions, obedience, choices, gentleness, etc.).

Melissa

Anonymous said...

Wow! I will have to check this book out! :) Thanks for sharing!

Kay said...

hmmmmm, I've been all about getting my house cleaned and organized for the new year but haven't been taking time to do the same for my heart and soul. Thanks for your reminder.

Carolina Mama said...

Great stuff. And that you have taken it to so many scriptures. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Nor sure why but your comments are not picking up my sign off. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing.
http://carolinamama1.blogspot.com

Charlotte Cushman said...

Love this Monica!

Anonymous said...

While searching for more about a clean heart your blog came up!

We wonder why bad things happen. Everyone says...because I messed up??? No that can't be...that's supersticous -- even archaic!

I'm reading 2nd Chronicles right now. It's very clear about keeping a clean heart.

Anonymous said...

Woops...repost.

People wonder why they have trouble...Here's what God says...

God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God's help. Now you're in trouble—one round of war after another 2nd Chronicles 16:7-9