Purifying Power of Hope
Geo. Cooper, D. D. 1 John 3:3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. In the moulding room of an iron foundry you may see workmen making in fine sand the moulds into which the molten iron will be poured in a day or two. It is delicate work, requiring care and skill. Compared with it, the pouring of the molten iron into the mould seems very easy. But it is not. Air bubbles that weaken the iron are more dangerous than a wrong pattern. It is a great thing to get a good ideal of life. But to work out the ideal, to make it real, to get the work just like the perfect pattern, is no easy thing. There are more failures from the want of faithfulness and skill in the worker than from the want of a good model of the work to be done. Hope has a purifying power. 1. Because it knows that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2. Because it creates an atmosphere of life that is death to personal impurity. 3. Because it encourages us to believe that the work of our being made like Christ will be accomplished. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." 4. Because we grow like those we ardently love. (Geo. Cooper, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. WEB: Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.