Judi: So I notice in the workbook that you focus on the goodness and greatness of God. Why? How does that focus help everyone in their battle for Soul Purity?
Dave: Let me respond first with the greatness of God. When our view of God is small, then our view of trouble and temptation is big. These sin struggles appear to be mountains, and God is small like a bump in the road. You see what I am trying to say? We can’t seem to put sin away or say, “No” to such a big and powerful temptation. It seems like God is smaller than all of these temptations. But when I begin to see a GREAT God, I am in awe of who He is and what He can do. I am humbled by His gracious and merciful moving in my life. I am thankful that He has promised to give me anything I need in Christ and the gospel. Humility. That is something we need. The proud person does not need God. The proud person continues to make wrong choices for human reasons. The Isaiah 40 kind of God, describing the greatness of God, makes our world and its sinful temptations seem so small.
Judi: Why the focus on the goodness of God?
Dave: If the greatness of God moves my heart to be humble, then the goodness of God moves my heart to be thankful. I need a thankful heart when I face daily temptations to sin. How can I desire anything else that God has withheld from me when I am so AMAZED at His goodness to me in the cross, in redemption, in the good news of being a child of God, and being complete in Him? But when I take His goodness for granted, I begin to doubt that I have all that I need. I want more. I want things I should not have or that are not yet God’s will for me. I will even turn from Him to other god-replacements that this world and Satan send my way. These are the idols that will control my heart and my life. I enslave myself to them in order to have more satisfaction. We lose our Soul Purity to puny gods.
Judi: Can you give us a peek at something else that is in the book?
Dave: Yes, the focus on the cross every week is so critical to turning the heart from the cesspool of sensuality and idolatry back to the purity of God. This is the gospel at work. We are rescued by the power of Christ in overcoming sin and Satan at the cross. We do not have to say, “Yes” to self and sin and the world. We can have Soul Purity.
