Proverbs 21:8. The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.
The guilty here is not only objectively guilty, but also heavy laden with a guilty conscious. How can you tell when someone is struggling with a guilty conscious? Because their way becomes crooked.
By contrast the person who is pure of mind and heart is living an upright life. A righteous life, like the one we talked about yesterday.
The principle here is universally true – a person’s conduct reveals their character. You can tell who a person truly is by the way they live their life. Didn’t Jesus say, “by their fruits you will know them”?
But what this proverb fails to provide is the cure for guilt and the power for purity. Yes, crooked behavior reveals guilt. But how is a person’s guilt dissolved? Yes, upright actions affirm purity. But how is a person made pure?
In Christ.
By our union with Christ we are released from all guilt and made pure in God’s sight. Where the Old Covenant would see an upright life as a means to purity, the New Covenant will see an upright life as proof of purity. Imputed purity. Grace cleansed guiltlessness.
The difference is, in Christ, we are not becoming guiltless and pure. We have been made guiltless and pure by the received life of Christ in us. Now we are empowered to walk on the straight path, and live a life of righteousness. Not to prove ourselves, but as proof of Christ in us.
Christian, when you know your guilt is gone, you no longer have to resort to crookedness to keep covering up your sin. In Christ you are dead to sin. You have no relationship to sin any longer. It has no hold over you. No condemning power. Crookedness be gone! Pure and holy is your new identity. Upright living is possible through the power of the renewed mind that stays focused on the mercies of God.
Isaiah 42:16. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them. (NKJV)
Isaiah’s prophecy is alive in us. Our crooked places have been made straight in Jesus – I will do these things for them.
This is wisdom. This is the fear of the Lord. To be what we already are. Be upright in your conduct. Why? Because you are pure. Don’t be crooked. Why not? Because you are guiltless. Be Christ-like. How? By trusting that you are in Christ.
You: Do you agree that conduct reveals character? Why or why not?
You in Christ: How does knowing that you are guiltless and pure in Christ allow you to become what you already are – upright?
Christ in you: How can Jesus in you allow you to set guilt aside and choose uprightness instead?
Pray: Father, you have made me righteous and pure in your son. By your Spirit in me, may I choose the straight path that is consistent with your grace. Amen.
To Live is Christ 