February 23

Read: Psalms 24:3-5

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Can We Be Free From Sin?

We saw yesterday our deep need to be freed from sin. But how can it be? Is it possible to be pure in heart? Can the human spirit be cleansed of carnality? Can a man inclined to evil be changed so that he desires only the good? Can our inborn antagonism to God be exchanged for an enduring devotion to Him? Is such spiritual transformation of the soul possible? Is it scriptural?

Our knowledge of God tells us that it must be possible. We need it desperately and the very urgency of our need argues that it must be so. God has never disappointed any of man’s deep hungers. For our thirst He has given water; for the eyes He has provided beauty; for hunger He has given food; for hearing He has filled the world with music. Shall He who provides so bountifully for the needs of the body and mind make no provision for the deepest need of the soul?

Can hearts once filled with evil be cleansed and filled with the Spirit of God? Jesus assures us that it is so — all that is required of us is that we must earnestly desire it. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

The Bible teaches that it is our privilege to be free from sin. We have made that faith a part of our church doctrine. “We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect” (Manual, Church of the Nazarene).