Psalm 19:9 “The fear of the LORD is pure,”

[To obey you, Lord, out of reverence, awe and fear takes us in the direction of genuine holiness. It moves us away from the selfish pollution of the world, our old sin nature and the wiles of Satan.

To obey you moves us towards fearing you–that is, caring deeply what you think about our issues and actions, our thoughts and words–while helping us fear the negative consequences of following our own reasoning.

To fear you, God, not man, to obey you while rejecting the fear of man–this leads to purity. The “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe” (Prov. 29:25).]

And purity leads us to wisdom: “The wisdom that is from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, sweetly reasonable, approachable and submissive….” James 3:17. When these qualities are present and growing in our lives, we will be profitable in our knowledge of Jesus, useful for Him in His Kingdom. It all starts with purity!