Influence me

But don’t let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace. (Romans 6:12-14)

I know sin doesn't seem to just leave us alone - there are opportunities to compromise at every turn in the road and more than we might seem to recognize. When we welcomed Christ into our lives, we actually 'died' to sin - meaning that sin has no control over us any longer. We all know that temptation is real. We all realize the appeal of certain 'habits' don't just disappear. We have to put forth some effort to resist - to 'repel' sin's pull. What we might not recognize is that by offering our bodies to God daily, we are actually asking God to help us resist or repel those urges to do what we know we shouldn't be doing any longer.

The sad truth is that we actually 'offered' ourselves to serve sin. We might not realize how often we do this, like when we engage in just a bit of gossip about another individual. Is that information you are receiving honorable? Not usually. It isn't as though you have the best interest of the other individual in mind when you are taking it all in. You just want the juicy tidbits! We 'offer' ourselves to sin by listening when we have no business knowing what is being shared! Sin has a way of luring us in, creating a sense of 'ease' for the moment, but later we find that we aren't feeling all that good about what we just did, said, or are now thinking about. We let sin have an entrance and now we deal with the guilt.

What does it mean to offer ourselves to God. I can only share what it means to me, so let me begin by saying I offer my thoughts to him repeatedly throughout the day. I know how carried away my thoughts can get when they are left to their own devices and influenced by all the stuff around me, so I need his help to keep me 'on task' with him and able to resist those 'influential thoughts' that come at me. I also ask him to guide my words so they will be spoken in a gentle, healing, and wholesome manner. Does that mean I always succeed with my thought life and my speech? Not always, but I soon recognize when I am not in a 'safe place' with both areas because he brings little moments of conviction that turn me around quickly.

Perhaps offering ourselves to him means we take time to ask him where we struggle the most. I know my thoughts and words create the majority of issues in my life. So, I start there! Your struggles may be a little different, but you get the idea. When you offer yourself to him, he will show you where he needs to 'influence' your life the most - then all you need to do is allow him to do it! Just sayin!

Go gloveless

Nathaniel Hawthorne said, "A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." A pure heart needs no covering, either. It becomes evident no matter how hard the journey - purity is something we cannot (and should not) ever try to hide. Some might want to shun such purity, probably because it pricks at their conscience just a bit more than they'd like. Regardless of society's norms, we need to remain true to those God lays out in his Word. Only then will we realize purity of heart, mind, spirit, and soul.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. (Psalm 24:3-9)

Be a generation that seeks him. If we want to see God move across our city, we might just be the first one to seek him. It takes one spark to ignite a whole forest - be the spark. Don't ever fear that others will be offended by what God is doing within your life - it is light in a very dark world that pushes back that darkness, little bit by little bit. Stand with God - regardless of those who stand against him.

Vindication from God our Savior - isn't that a mouthful? I know I have so much sin that I need Jesus to wash away from my life. I needed his light to reveal what I kept hidden - no glove could cover over my sin. How about yours? We try hard to 'make good' what is really rotten to the core within our lives, but we don't do a very good job of it. A glove merely masks what is underneath it. Our facades are nothing more than lame masks trying to put forth one image of 'us' to the world, all the while knowing there is something else underneath that facade we don't want them to seem.

Who may stand? The one with clean hands and a pure heart. Clean hands come from a pure heart. A pure heart comes from having our sins washed away by the blood of Christ. Grace is the only thing that washes us clean. Grace means we don't need the gloves any longer. Just sayin!

Contents revealed

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. (Psalm 85:11)

Teaching involves the impartation of knowledge held by one to another. Whenever we ask God to teach us his ways, we are asking for the impartation of the mind of Christ. We want God to prepare us for the day's tasks - demonstrating to us how it is we are to respond to the challenges of the day. Critics of 'the religious life' will say we are asking to be 'brainwashed'. Those into spiritualism will say we are asking for 'enlightenment'. Neither is true - we are asking for God to show us his will, demonstrate how we live within that will, and to keep us safe from the attacks of all manner of untruth that comes our way.

When God grants us wisdom (the ability to apply the knowledge we have received), he does so in order to purify our hearts. His goal is to rid us of all the things that stand in the way of our total communion with him. Purity of heart is not accomplished through rituals of religion, but by the connection of relationship. God's desire for us is open fellowship. That requires trust and trust is based upon truthfulness. God shares his truth in Christ Jesus - we are asked to share our truth. As we do, we find where our heart begins to be changed. Things we held onto so closely (like our secret sins) don't seem to have the same appeal. Why? God is bringing purity into the place where pride, lust, anger, bitterness, and every manner of hurt or hang-up had existed. 

Don't ask God to purify your heart unless you mean it, though. You might be surprised at what he reveals to you that needs to be confessed, forsaken, and forever replaced in your thoughts, emotions, or even your actions. We will be asked to stop hiding what or who we are, come clean on matters we might have wanted to avoid entirely, and then allow God to replace those things with all that brings honor and glory to his name. When we begin to put God first in our lives, we might just find we go through more frequent explorations of the 'content' of our hearts. Why? God wants the best for each of us and his best is always accomplished where his Spirit dwells. His Spirit dwells in a 'clean and pure' heart! Just sayin!

999.99 isn't 100%

 If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (I John 1:8-10)

There are a whole lot of ways I show off my 'ignorance', but I don't want one of them to be that I think I am without sin - I am a sinner, yet redeemed from my sin! Admitting our sin is the only way to be free from it. If we admit our sinfulness, does that make us no longer sinners? We all have a human nature - there is always going to be a 'pull toward' sin in our lives as long as we are walking on this earth. Do we have to 'give into' that pull? No, because we have been given a new life in Christ Jesus - the desire might be there, but we have the ability to no longer act upon that desire. Is it still a struggle for us at times? Yes, because the enemy of our souls doesn't like it that we aren't giving into that impulse to sin. 

Some of us need to 'come clean' when it comes to our sinfulness. We have been hiding some things in our lives as well as we possibly can, but the light of God isn't going to allow what we hide to be hidden forever. We are not fooling God - we are merely trying to fool ourselves into believing we aren't 'sinful' or 'sinners'. I have met people who claim to be 'good' - therefore they believe they have no need for a Savior. They justify their 'goodness' by their good deeds and their 'lack of outward sin', all the while denying they still struggle with inner thoughts and desires that aren't all that wholesome. They don't do the 'big sins' like murder, but they might just hold grudges and think themselves better than others. Does that mean they aren't sinners? No, it just means they are disillusioned about what 'sin' actually is. In the simplest sense, sin is defined as anytime we miss the mark. 

What is the 'mark' we are to be aiming at in life? If we don't know God, that 'mark' may actually be something quite different than what God deems to be the 'mark'. God's mark is purity, holiness, and justice. How many of us actually struggle with at least one of those three on occasion? Likely it is all of us. None of us is 100% pure. It amazed me to know the gold jewelry we buy is not 100% pure - there is always some form copper, silver, or other impurities. In all our work to get gold pure, we have only been able to achieve 999.99 purity, leaving that miniscule amount as 'impure'. As much as we may try to 'clean our lives up' and live pure lives on our own, there will always remain some 'miniscule' amount that isn't quite 'hitting the mark'. Grace is the only way to actually rid ourselves of all the impurities - the grace that is only available in Christ Jesus! Just sayin!

You have way too many alternatives!

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously. 

(Henry Kissinger)

When it comes to our thought life, I daresay we could do with a few less 'alternatives' to ponder, rehash, and ruminate upon. We all probably struggle a little bit with the 'clutter' of thought we encounter all day long as we go about our regular tasks and chores. Any 'alternative' is simply means we have to make choices - one becoming more demanding or clearer than the others. We choose when to begin the laundry, whether we will leave the vacuuming another until another day, or even if we will listen to music while we go about those chores. We choose to hold onto or let go of the thought 'alternatives' when it comes to our misadventures that leave us feeling a little less than 'right' in the end. Guilt can lead to shame all because we don't let go of something we have spent way too much time ruminating on in our minds. Anger can lead to bitterness because we continue to turn over the embers of some unkindness done. Indeed, we need to clear our minds of the 'alternatives' we have been holding onto if we are to have clarity of thought and certainty of purpose.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (Philippians 4:8-9)

An alternative is really a choice between two courses - take one and the outcome will go one way; take the other and you could see a different alternative. In science lab we would see what each 'alternative' produced - some ending up with spoiled projects, while others showed huge potential and even success. Look at the alternatives put forward for us in this passage and you will see there is one that produces a good outcome - the other producing a less than desirable one. It is also important to realize making the right choice in determining the 'alternative' we will pursue isn't by accident - it is a matter of practice. In science lab we didn't just do the experiment once and say we would get the same results time after time again. We practiced it over and over ensuring the results remained consistent. God expects us to change the way we think - the alternatives we consider - not just once, but repeatedly until the consistency of choosing the 'right alternative' is 'built into' our thoughts.

I think we might just struggle way too much in our thought life because of all the 'alternatives' we have allowed to amass in all those brain synapses. We store away all manner of thought, good and bad alike, sometimes without even being aware we are doing so. We see something and it gets stored away. We hear another thing and we tuck it away. We do it unconsciously - without purposeful thought or action on our part. Don't believe me? Have you ever been engaged in a conversation with someone and then find your mind drifting a bit, only to come back to the conversation knowing you were just asked a question? You were unconsciously 'listening', but not 'consciously' hearing. Engaged once again and you are more purposeful in the conversation. God isn't going to brainwash any of us and get rid of all the 'alternatives' that clutter up our thought life just because we pray one time for him to bring clarity. It takes active 'practice' on our part to sort out those thoughts, confess they exist, and then rid ourselves of them by choosing to think on the 'alternative' to those thoughts. This is what our passage says - rid yourself of the worst, considering instead the best. Time to 'whittle down' a few of those alternatives, my friends. Just sayin!

I see you this way, but I see myself....

I have to say Craig Groeschel hit the nail on the head this past weekend when he pointed out how differently each of us views a 'fault' depending on whether you have it or it is my own personal one! He said something like 'we view your life by your actions, while we view our own by our intentions'. Telling isn't it? We judge another by their actions - while all the while we justify our actions by evaluating out intentions, not our actions! At times, we are presented with individuals who seem to have an "ulterior motive" in their actions. In other words, what is presented is really a "mask" for something being done to deceive the individual on the receiving end of the action. One thing is said, another is meant. One thing is done, but the intention behind it is completely contrary to the "appearance". This is dangerous ground for us - simply because we really don't know what to expect, or when to trust. If it is out own actions getting us into this muddle, good Lord help us!

Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road. (Proverbs 21:8)

We would probably call an "ulterior" motive a "second motive" - one which is usually a little selfish in nature. The end result is a life in tangles - a messed up wad of goofy stuff that has to be untangled, or discarded as a waste of time and energy! Not my idea of where I want to be living! In fact, when I am faced with these kind of individuals, I tend to pull back from relationship with them - simply because I cannot trust their intentions and they have a tendency to "complicate" my life! Imagine that individual as yourself and then ask yourself if that may be the reason others pull back from you on occasion - they are tired of dealing with your "mixed motives" and "double standards" - one you set for others, while you maintain a totally different one for yourself. I have been there! I have lived that way and it is just not right.

I don't always have the purest motives! I just try my best not to purposely work in the realm of "secret" or "hidden" agendas! I don't like the tangles they create and have chosen to allow God to help me avoid some of those tangles I had created in my life in times gone by. God is perfectly aware of our "hidden" motives - those we'd call "selfish" in nature. Like the times we ask God to bless us with a new car, a new job, a new relationship, and what we are really saying is, "God, I don't like the one you have already blessed me with!" People who purposefully set out to deceive by their actions leave the lives of those they touch in a mess of tangles. In fact, they are never free from the tangles themselves - because any life of deception requires a whole lot of effort to keep up the façade of untruths used to mask the reality of what lies just beneath the surface! I think these are the individuals God was "aiming at" in the verse above - those who hide their guilt behind a façade. I lived there for a long time and am so glad to be free of that 'masked life'.

Pure motives keep you on a straight path. God understands our "bent" toward selfish motives, but he expects as we become aware of them, we will hurriedly lay them at the foot of the altar and have them changed by the touch of his grace. If we are finding our life caught up in a jumble of tangles as a result of the deceptiveness of our actions and thoughts, we might need some altar time to untangle the mess we've created! In examining the word "tangle", I found it not only relates to the mess of inter-twisted parts, but also to be caught up or held in a trap or snare of some sort. Mixed motives actually entrap us - snaring us in their strong and strangling grip. There is a hampering effect which occurs anytime the motives we choose to obey are those which are not pure in nature. They hamper our growth, relationships, and even our access to God. Perhaps this is why God places so much emphasis on purity of heart! His goal is to never have anything keep us from straight-forward, immediate, and unhindered access to him! Mixed motives deceive - pure motives open the doors of trust. Mixed motives ensnare - pure motives allow freedom in relationship. Mixed motives will overgrow if never checked! We need to be constantly examining our motives - not in light of our own perceptions - but in the light of the Cross. The Cross exposes what is just beneath the surface - hidden though it might have been - revealing exactly what it is we are "covering over". Never forget...at the altar - we are altered. Never "under-value" the time you spend at the altar of God's grace! Just sayin!

Turning up the heat a little

Back in the days of the pioneers, there was a crazy flurry of activity to 'hit it big' in the gold mining 'rushes' of the day. Someone would come across the 'mother-load' and the rush would be on. Whether that sparkly stuff was panned from streams or chiseled from the walls of the caves that housed their rich vein, the result was the same - it had to be melted down before it could really be used. Along came the silver and copper mines, each yielding their own 'ores' of great promise - each requiring their own type of 'smelting' processes, but each producing various 'qualities' of 'finished product' as a result. The smelting process usually involved what came to be known as the 'crucible' - that smaller collection spot within the larger furnace where the refined metals would be collected. While the furnace produced the heat to accomplish the refining process, the crucible acted as a collection device to capture the purified substance which would emerge from the furnace.

As silver in a crucible and gold in a pan, so our lives are assayed by God.  (Proverbs 17:3)

Silver is mined - then must be separated from all the various impurities that it is surrounded by such as sulfur, arsenic, antimony, chlorine, or argentite - all important elements, but not really desirable for us to wear or use in our eating utensils! It is rarely found in some big clump, or small dust particles such as you have with gold. There is a refining process that must occur in order to separate the other stuff from the silver so you are left with the silver alone. Silver is 'bound to' or 'clings to' other substances and it must be 'extracted' from the stuff that it clings to or that which clings to it.

Sulfur - when burned, it can have a suffocating odor. Its various uses are for the production of gunpowder, in the formulation of medicines to kill various germs, and in the vulcanizing process of making rubber. While it has a benefit to us, it doesn't really belong to the silver, nor is the silver made any stronger by it being there.

Arsenic - the interesting thing about arsenic is that it vaporizes when heated, has a great metallic luster which gives it an appearance of beauty, and is quite poisonous if it is ingested. Now, I don't know about you, but something that that just gives me an appearance of beauty, but is 'poisonous' by nature isn't all that appealing! I don't think we'd want that stuff around too long!

Antimony - a kind of lustrous metal compound that looks good, but has very little value as a metal. It has one main use as an addition to metal alloys to give them strength. It is the item usually added to the mix when someone is manufacturing semi-conductors. The important thing to remember is that it is quite toxic - although useful, it carries a very high risk by being present.

Chlorine - we know that chlorine has many uses, but its main use is in the purification process because it has the ability to kill bacteria. It is toxic in both its gaseous and more "visible" forms such as liquid or crystal. Sometimes it is a silent killer since it can escape without notice and be carried pretty far on the winds. There is really a great risk in keeping something so volatile and lethal around.

Argentite - this mineral usually never exists alone. It is found in the silver mines along with the silver, clinging to the silver as part of the ore. It is lead grey in color and is very unstable once exposed to air, so it is not really of any use as a mineral. It is a 'cling-on', but it is useless if it cannot 'ride on' something else. Remove it and the silver is still strong - keep it around and it just makes silver ugly.

Okay, I did not want to bore you with all kinds of information on the minerals of silver mining, but I wanted to refer to each of these just a little bit to bring some clarity to why this analogy of silver in a crucible is used to describe God's work in our lives. It is important for us to see just what God may be doing by placing us in circumstances that we refer to as the furnace - the refining "crucible" of trial.
We may have some "sulfur-like" behavior that we need to have brought to the surface and separated from our lives - such as anger or wrath. When it is allowed to remain "combined" with the silver - we have a "combustible" part of our character that does not bring honor to God. Arsenic may look good, adding some type of "luster" to our character, but it is toxic. We might have some types of "toxic" character traits, such as gossip, malice, or envy that God knows have the capacity to be extremely "toxic" if they are allowed to remain. He puts us through the purifying process in order to remove these from our lives. 

 
Antimony gives the appearance of "looking good", but the presence of the "mask" never determines the reality of what is hidden. God knows that a transparent Christian is more valuable than one that looks good on the outside and is hiding nothing of value on the inside. Antimony is kind of like being this intensely strong appearing Christian on the outside, but being a blubbering idiot on the inside!
Chlorine has both a positive and negative affect - it can be a purifying agent, but not until it is "processed". It must be separated from all the other impurities, then it has to be used very carefully or it burns! We can liken this to either giving off a "sweet smelling odor" that delights God, or being "toxic" in what we emanate, burning the world around us. Argentite is absolutely worthless when it is exposed to air - it does nothing to lend to the strength or beauty of the silver once it is exposed. That is the same with any secret sin in our lives - as long as it is hidden in the core of our inner man, it gets along just fine. Once exposed to the Word of God, the sin shows the true corruptibility of its presence. God always uses the furnace and crucible of circumstance (trial) to remove the stuff that only serves to contaminate our spiritual beauty and our testimony. The next time you are going through the fire, you might ask God what "worthless mineral" he is focusing on separating from your life at that moment in time. The "smelting" process God uses is designed to produce the clarity of pure, refined silver - gleaming in all its beauty, reflective of the image of Jesus. Just burnin!

Glove or no glove?

The earth belongs to God! Everything in all the world is his!  He is the one who pushed the oceans back to let dry land appear. Who may climb the mountain of the Lord and enter where he lives? Who may stand before the Lord? Only those with pure hands and hearts, who do not practice dishonesty and lying. They will receive God’s own goodness as their blessing from him, planted in their lives by God himself, their Savior. These are the ones who are allowed to stand before the Lord and worship the God of Jacob. (Psalm 24:1-6 TLB)

It was Nathaniel Hawthorne who penned, "A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." There are lots of "gloves" we wear in life, sometimes for protection, at others to hide. I wear gloves in my profession for protection - to avoid the spread of illness. I wear gloves when I garden - to avoid injury. I wear a glove when I play ball - to assist with the capture of the ball. I wore dress white gloves in the military while on parade - to look sharp and crisp with each salute or movement in cadence with others in my battalion. I have age spots now that I am in my 6th decade of life, but I don't wear gloves to 'cover up' or hide them. Why? They are part of who I am and I am not going to change the fact they are there by wearing a pair of gloves. While all the other types of gloves served a good purpose, the ones I would try to wear to 'cover up' any type of 'flaw' in my life would just not cut it when it comes to God knowing who I truly am under that cover-up!

Either my actions are pure, or they are not. One way or the other, nothing really hides the fact I have an impure heart. The only way to truthfully deal with that impurity is to admit it is there, seek the one thing that can change that condition - Christ's presence - and then allow that presence to change me, not cover up what is there! His presence 'plants goodness' in our hearts - it changes the condition of our hearts, not just a little bit, but all the way. Holiness is more than a state of mind - it is a direct result of a changed heart. There is no longer a need to cover up the condition of the heart because the condition has been changed entirely by the presence of Christ in us. The goodness of God is planted within our lives and tended on an ongoing basis by the one who does the planting - God himself!

Pure hand link to a pure heart - the hands do as the heart directs. As is so often pointed out in scripture, it is impossible for a little leaven not to affect the entire loaf - the power and action of that tiny bit of leaven affects the whole because it is invasive in its focus and intent. Sin has a way of affecting more than just a little bit of our heart - this is why we need to have our heart changed, not just the evil intent covered up. We cannot overcome that evil intent because it is like leaven that affects the whole - it cannot be masked entirely. To have pure hands, one needs that which will make the heart pure - Christ and Christ alone. We might think we can put a 'glove over' that part of us that is problematic or 'flawed', but let me assure you, at some point what is hidden will eventually be exposed. Isn't is just better to not need the glove in the first place? Just askin!

Stem Cell Transplant

God, create a pure heart in me, and make my spirit strong again. Don’t push me away or take your Holy Spirit from me. Your help made me so happy. Give me that joy again. Make my spirit strong and ready to obey you. I will teach the guilty how you want them to live, and the sinners will come back to you. (Psalm 51:10-13 ERV)

Purity of heart is not something we accomplish on our own - we definitely need God's help with this one! In fact, it is impossible for the "impure" to ever reproduce "pure". The strength of spirit it took to compromise, or downright follow a path of impurity in the first place is what should make us realize we don't "find purity" on our own. We need (and we want) God to make our spirit strong again - but in the right direction!

It is one thing to be strong - it is another thing to exhibit the strength that is initiated and sustained by God himself. I can be a very strong-willed individual, but does that strength of will always produce the right outcomes in my life? Absolutely not! In fact, to be totally honest here, whenever my strength of will is in control, I kind of follow a course not so honoring to God!

Where God is given will, he produces that readiness to obey. In other words, when we eventually make a determined choice to stop demanding our own way, God begins to reproduce within us his strength of character that redefines our choices. Most of the time, this is exactly what keeps us in the compromising circle anyway - choices that need a little redefinition! His character reproduced within us isn't going to just come alongside impure character within us - it replaces it!

Think of God's grace as "stem cells" that have the ability to reproduce "good" and "vital" cells of solid character within. They are the "cells" that will overcome the "bad cells" of our own character that need to be gone anyway! We might "want to" change our character - but we lack the right "cellular materials" I would like to call the "purity cells". The character of God is exactly that - so he takes his "purity cells" and transplants them through "grace moments". 

The thing that makes the difference when that "transplant" occurs is our openness to receiving the new "cells" of his character. If we are really desirous to have a change of character, we usually don't "reject" that new growth - but we embrace it. Yes, there will be a conflict because nothing within us dies easily when it comes to our sin nature, but it is possible the more we focus on doing the right stuff that allows those "purity cells" to take hold! Just sayin!

When he tests...

“But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside." (Job 23:10-11 NLT)

When we are in the thick of things, we probably don't even think God knows what direction we are headed! The chaos of the issues bombarding us on all sides just leaving us with questions, uncertain outcomes, and decisions too numerous for us to even think about some days. We just cannot possibly imagine any other "disaster" that can come our ways, only to be broad-sided by something totally unexpected. Could it just be WE don't know where we are going at the moment, but that God has all things perfectly orchestrated and the outcomes already well under his control?

The key isn't that we know the destination, it is that we stay on course. To be totally transparent here, there have been more than a few times that if God had showed me clearly where it was I was headed before I started, I'd never have started! I would have opted out! I certainly wouldn't have chosen the pathway of single parenting, but when I was faced with that path, I put one foot in front of the other. There were more than enough days where I'd have to admit I didn't think I could do it, but my kids turned out to be pretty doggone great adults - not because of me, but in spite of me and because of God's gracious care over all of us. The times I have faced the uncertainty of losing a job, not knowing how the bills would get paid, or how long we'd be without health insurance between jobs - these weren't easy paths to traverse, but even when the path got a little bumpy and I complained a little more than I probably should have, he was right there with me each step of the way.

If you were to ask me how to make it past a certain catastrophic event in your life, such as the betrayal of a close friend, the unknown of losing a job, or the uncertainty of affording the repairs when the water main pipes breaking twice in one year, I'd have to say it isn't the "course" that matters - it would be the determination of your heart to not veer off-course even when it gets a little harder than you might like. The course isn't the issue - the determination and dedication of our heart is what counts! God knows the path you are on - he knows the end from the beginning. He knows what man intends for your "undoing" can become the greatest opportunity for his "doing"! 

Gold isn't pure when it comes out of the ground. It isn't pure until it is put through the fire. It isn't free of the smallest of particles of impurities that hang onto it for dear life until the fire has changed the consistency of that ore. Did you ever stop to consider just how big the gold ore is when it is mined and how surprisingly small the gold that can be extracted from it comes out to be? It is the path that purifies us - getting at the heart of what really matters in life and how determined we will be to hold onto what matters. Just sayin!

NO, not the furnace again!

Silver is purified in the crucible, gold in the furnace, but motives of the heart are judged by the Eternal.  (Proverbs 17:3 VOICE)

Richard Nixon once said, "The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire."  If you really stop to think on that one, he was pretty close to the truth.  The steel doesn't become steel because it dreams of being steel one day.  It doesn't even know what is about to happen to it when it approaches the fire of the furnace. It is kind of naive in a sense, because it just trusts the one handling it to make something beautiful from the carbon and iron when it is combined in the heat of the furnace.  In essence, we don't really know what will come of our lives, but when we trust the one who made all the elements of our lives to put those elements to use as he sees fit, we find the object "refined" as he imagined it to be from the beginning.

The furnace isn't a place for wimps.  In fact, most of us don't even realize we are even approaching the furnace until the heat is so great that we cannot help but notice it!  The iron and carbon are mined - much in the same way you and I find some of the things in our lives coming forth from within us that need to be "taken to the fire" in order to become a thing of beauty in his hands.  Motives aren't always all that lovely or perfect, are they?  In much the same way as iron is okay and carbon is all right, we have motives which are okay and all right, but God's desire is to see motives that shine with brilliance - the brilliance only produced in the heat of the fire!

The furnace brings a refining - the process of removing what shouldn't remain. What might remain unnoticed to the naked eye is often exposed in the furnace. The motives of our heart which are less than pure - adding something to the mixture of our lives which need not be there or actually weakens the strength of what has the potential of being brought out of us needs to be exposed.  The furnace has a way of exposing that which is hidden - that which weakens - and than which in essence contaminates the whole.

We don't just jump at the chance to go through the furnace because we don't always want to know what lies deep within our inner man.  We sometimes just want to be "left alone" so that we can just exist as we are.  The problem with us being left alone is that we don't see one strength mesh with another, and all that weakens us being removed.  This only happens in the fire!  There isn't any other process to get us to the point of being refined to the point that we are brilliant, strong, and of the greatest use to the one who created us!  As much as we may try to avoid it - nothing produces purity in quite the same manner. Just sayin!

Remaining means we begin and continue

Snow looks pure, does it not?  You look out over the vast expanse of that beautiful white blanket covering the earth and what does it imply by that "white color"?  Purity, right? Yet, most scientists will tell us those crystalline water particles contain dust particles as well - for the dust particle is what the snow actually forms around as the water crystallizing process begins.  Mom used to tell me we all need to eat a "peck" of dirt in our lifetime, so I guess a little dust is no big deal!  Snow is very close to distilled water. You can pretty much count on being able to melt it, using it without much concern for the content of it as long as it was close to the surface, had no visible contamination, and appeared to be pretty fresh.  Very few things in this life are as pure as snow, though, including our own soul!

How can a young person remain pure?  Only by living according to Your word.   I have pursued You with my whole heart; do not let me stray from Your commands.   Deep within me I have hidden Your word so that I will never sin against You.   You are blessed, O Eternal One; instruct me in what You require.  (Psalm 119:9-12 VOICE)

I find it interesting to consider the question our psalmist poses - "How can a young person REMAIN pure?"  He doesn't ask how one can become pure, but rather how one remains pure.  This suggests there is a purification process which is begun and must be "tended to" if he is to remain pure.  Snow is pure as it falls, but as it comes into contact with impurities in the air, especially in highly polluted areas, the original purity of the snow can be significantly impacted. If we consider this, what we go through in life has the potential of allowing impurities to get "gathered" into our lives.  Those impurities can impact us if we don't guard against them.

Purity is established the moment we say "yes" to Jesus, but as life comes our way, impurities are constantly bombarding us from every side.  It is those impurities our psalmist is asking God to give him wisdom to deal with so they don't become those things which negatively impact his newly established purity in Christ Jesus.  I know it would be much easier for us to somehow live in a bubble as it comes to avoiding impurities, but the reality is we don't live in bubbles.  We face things, hear things, sense things, experience things which all present opportunity upon opportunity for us to be impacted by their influence.  God's desire is for us to cry out for him to show us how to remain pure - to keep our steps in right order, our minds attentive to the things he reveals, and our heart set in perfect peace through the instruction of his Word.

As our psalmist points out, there is a relationship between our "remaining pure" and allowing the things which help to create purity to "enter into" our lives.  The times we spend in reflection in the Word of God will never be wasted time - the significance of hiding those words deep within the recesses of our hearts and minds, even when we aren't setting out to memorize them, is immense.  Even when we just get the Word in by being exposed to in daily, we are allowing it to affect us.  We don't have to have a "twelve step" memory program where we have these little boxes with scripture cards for each day of the month.  We simply need to have a Bible and a desire to read it!  Just sayin!

Mixed signals

Our cravings reveal much about the condition of our hearts.  The more we "crave" for the things we know won't do us much good, or perhaps even do us some harm, the more we can count on the fact we are a little further away from God's heart than we may want to be.  Our cravings are kind of like a "barometer" for our soul - we can often see how our mind, will and emotions are guiding us into some "stormy" weather!  Craving is a form of "begging" - we want something so badly our mind and emotions are playing on our will to get us to fulfill whatever it is we are craving so desperately for.

God won’t starve an honest soul, but he frustrates the appetites of the wicked. Blessings accrue on a good and honest life, but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.  A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench.  (Proverbs 10:3, 6-7 MSG)

Most of us with the privilege of actually being able to access the internet by means of our smartphones, tablets, PCs, or other electronic device are not very familiar with what "starvation" entails in the sense of our physical bodies.  In fact, we have probably lived pretty blessed lives - with most of us never missing a meal without purposeful intent.  Yet, I imagine there may be some who read these words who have experienced the deep, agonizing hunger of physical body due to the inability to procure food on occasion.  The concept of starvation can go way beyond the hunger pangs of our stomachs. There is something we can learn from our physical hunger and how our bodies respond to it, though.

God made us to have physical hunger.  We also have emotional hunger and this is often expressed in our desires.  We yearn or desire certain things within relationship, as a matter of accomplishment, or by some means of praise or recognition which will satisfy these emotional needs.  On the other hand, when these emotional needs are not met, we look to fulfill them perhaps in ways not particularly honoring of our own worth or of the will of God for our lives.  One of the things we need to see is how God made our bodies to respond to physical hunger and how this can apply to the other types of hunger we may struggle with from an emotional standpoint.

Did you know that you have a small center in your brain which actually controls your physical hunger.  Those pangs in your stomach are a result of the signals traveling from stomach to brain, sending signals into your "mental thought" which make you aware it is time to eat a meal.  This "signaling" effect will only go on for so long.  Ignore it long enough, and it goes away.  It isn't that the hunger doesn't exist any longer, it is that you are not as aware of it - it doesn't nag at you.  Now, in any area of our lives where we struggle to keep certain desires (hunger) under control, I wonder what might just happen if we ignore the constant "signals" for a while?  Perhaps the hunger for what we shouldn't really have, or for that which will only bring us emotional upheaval will become duller and duller until we no longer are being nagged by it!

In these three verses, God focuses on the "good life" - the life of honor. Honesty is another term for a trustworthy life.  What is being said is that the life which has learned to hold emotions "in balance" - not allowing one or another of those emotions to get us all out of balance - will find a special place of blessing.  Honest lives are those which have integrity (sincerity) built into them - you can trust what "signals" are being sent and responded to. There is nothing more frustrating to us than always receiving "mixed" signals and then having to sort them out to figure out which one to respond to.  It is like the moments when I want a snack, think about the apple sitting right in front of me, but remember the roll of Sweet Tarts in the drawer!  Mixed signals need a place to be sorted out - so God made us with minds which can use the faculties of reasoning and sound judgment.

When our reasoning and judgment may not be in balance with God's plan because they are being influenced by the constant "nagging" of some emotional "signal" we are being bombarded with, we often make bad decisions.  The end results is a lot of guilt, a sense of having failed again, and a general feeling that we will never get this right.  Perhaps what we need to do is ask God to help us develop the ability to ignore the signals long enough to let the nagging subside.  I wonder what might just happen if we were to pray this prayer and then let God turn our mind from its focus on those "signals" toward him for a while.  I bet we might just find those "signals" get shut down in the light of his presence!  Just sayin!

Greetings and Closings

Salutations and Greetings, Farewells and Closing Remarks - all parts of a letter, binding the thoughts in the middle all together.  Salutations and Greetings make up the beginning of the letter - almost giving a little synopsis of who the letter is written to, an introduction into why the letter is being written, and the time frame it is written.  The Farewells and Closing Remarks act as both a summary of the letter and a chance to let the individual know who has been writing.  In the middle comes the "meat" of the letter - the elaboration of the purpose for writing - giving details one will need in order to accomplish something or learn about the "goings on" of another.  Most of us gravitate toward the main portion of the letter because it contains the heart of the information.  The greeting is nice, the closing remarks sweet, but the "meat" is in the middle, so are we all wrong in giving this our main attention? No, but we cannot overlook the salutations and closings - they carry much meaning and give us insight into how to apply the "meat" in the middle.  For example, when Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, he opened with a salutation:  I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. (vs. 1-2 MSG)  He is setting forth the authority he has to write to them - he is under God's plan as a special agent of Jesus - writing to the faithful believers in Ephesus.  The letter is written to believers - those who had already thrown in their lot with Jesus.  So, this letter is not meant to be very practical for the unbeliever (the audience is addressed in the salutation).  He is writing in the "grace and peace" which is now in the lives of the believers because of the gift of God's salvation.  As important as it is to know who the letter is directed to, it is also important to know the "temperature" of the letter.  It is one filled with grace and peace.  It isn't a letter of chastisement, but of encouragement and instruction.  

Good-bye, friends. Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 6:23-24 MSG)

At the end of the letter, Paul summarizes a couple of things - love mixed with faith; pure grace and nothing but grace.  This may not seem like much at first, but he is summarizing the important lessons of the letter.  First, love is required in the church - and it is made evident in the faith which is revealed in actions, not just words.  The wall being removed which separated not only man from God, but fellow man from fellow man through religious differences, there is but one outcome Paul desired to see in the church - love mixed with faith.  A way being made, a way being taken, and a way being lived out daily. This was his purpose in writing to the Ephesians - to all believers.  Yet, he doesn't stop there - he reiterates the importance of grace - pure grace.  In other words, grace not MIXED with anything else.  Love is mixed with faith - love requires action on our part - extending itself to those around us.  Grace, on the other hand, is pure and is to be unmixed with the things of personal opinion, belief, or supposition.  We sometimes try to add to grace - making grace something other than what it is.  Paul wants us to remember to keep grace pure - it was God's gift, based on his love for mankind, given through his one and only Son, Jesus, to a lost and dying world.  Nothing else is needed - no works on our part get us any closer to the heart of Jesus than the grace he provides.

As we learn to love with our faith - rather than using our faith to turn people away - we begin to see evidence of love mixed with faith.  For example, I may not condone a particular lifestyle of another, but I am put into that individual's world to be light.  I don't have to acknowledge their sinfulness as "okay", but I do have to honor their life as one for which Christ died.  As such, they deserve my love and the revelation of my faith in the actions of that love. 

Grace is to be unmixed - nothing religious about it.  It isn't understood or obtained in the sacrificial offerings, or the plethora of church activities we engage in.  It is understood best when it is received and then extended again to another who stands so desperately in need of what we have received without measure.  Love allows for the creativity of our actions.  Grace allows for the actions of God to be shared through us.

To add to grace is to do a disservice to grace.  Grace is not a byproduct of any action on our behalf.  It is purely given by the hand of God - because of his intense love for us.  It is received in its purest form - forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is reproduced in its purest form - forgiveness extended and reconciliation afforded.  Just sayin!

A truly "plumb" heart

Nothing is more elusive than the approval of man.  Try as we might, we often fall short of what another expects of us - leaving us feeling like we haven't measured up and them experiencing disappointment.  Since it is so elusive, why do we spend so much time trying to "measure up" to some other man or woman's approval?  The approval of another is kind of like a well disguised snare in the path - we get caught up in it without even noticing we were headed in that direction!   The pathway to man's approval is pretty demanding, though.  It demands our time - often time we don't have to give. It demands our attention - often attention which is diverted from something which also requires our attention, but which will go without while we pursue something completely opposite.  It demands our energies - sucking us dry of that which really would be best utilized on a task designed by God for us.

To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.  (Psalm 18:25-26 NIV)

Most of the time, we can regroup from our time being squandered, our attentions a little distracted, or our energies a little depleted.  What we have a greater difficulty with is when our desire to please others begins to change our morals, or shape our convictions of heart to theirs.  Given enough time, the demands of others in our lives will do just this if we aren't "wise" to the "warping" of our convictions.  Wood doesn't warp overnight - as it dries, it curls right up and looses its straight or even surface.  The same is true with our heart convictions - they don't just change overnight because someone makes demands of us - they change little by little until we one day recognize they are no longer "plumb".

God is at work in our lives - all circumstances and encounters are an opportunity for him to shine through us.  Even the demands of another can be his tools to clarify our desires, focus our attention, and determine the course of our heart.  If you haven't figured this out yet, then here's the truth about how God works - he looks for our willingness, then he "checks" it with our choices.  He allows circumstances and people in our lives which will help us to clarify our choices.  If we are constantly following the whim and fancy of the one who makes the external demands of us, we are missing out on the opportunities to do what God requests of us.  God is gracious - others demand, he requests.  He is looking for willingness - then he works on our choices.

Yesterday, we spoke about a pure heart - one which is free of all the clutter that gets in the way of pursuing what God intends.  Now, think about that in light of what we read today.  A pure heart is aware that God is at work in their lives - even through the demanding people!  The kingdom of God (the dominion of his power) is within us.  It affects those around us when we remain true to that "reign".  A pure heart is not affected by the multitude of demands people are making - it remains consistently at ease and resists the pull to be twisted out of "plumb".  When we get our minds out of the muddle of the demands of another, we can begin to wrap our hearts around the settled peace of the reign of Christ within.

A word of caution:  Purity of heart is maintained easiest when we are partnered with those of similar heart desire.  What we fail to recognize many times is the distance between what our heart tells us and what our spirit requires of us.  Heart may aim to please all people - sending us into a spiral of frenzied task-driven performance.  A pure heart aims to please just one - Christ alone.  What we find in this pursuit is the ability to balance what we "do" for others with what God asks us to "be" in him.  "Treasure" is a matter of choice.  I saw this in the antique shops I visited recently.  The price tag on many items was out of this world and definitely not "reasonable" in my mind. Yet, many will pay the price because they have defined the item as a "treasure" they will pay any amount to attain.  Truthfully, there is but one treasure which impacts our heart, purifies our motives, and settles our minds - it is the treasure of drawing near to the heart of Christ.

If you are caught up in the frenzy of pleasing others, finding yourself pulled a little "out of plumb", and just circling in a holding pattern as it comes to your ability to move on, maybe it is time to do a little "detachment" from the demands which have pulled you this direction.  Just sayin!

Feeling a little "cluttered" lately?

If you have ever stopped to consider things long enough to actually get a clear perspective on things, you will probably realize there is that moment in time when you finally realize the reality of something - it comes as one of those "AHA!" experiences.  For the first time, you see things as they are - you really understand them.  In our spiritual lives, this happens, too.  We get to the place where we finally have that "AHA!" moment and then we sit and revel in what it is we finally see so clearly.  What happened to get us to this point? Simply put, we got enough of God into the places in our heart and mind where we had all the muddle previously!  As he got into those places, he sorted out the muddle and let us see him and our circumstances in clarity!

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  (Matthew 5:8 NIV)

You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.  (Matthew 5:8 MSG)

What kept us from seeing clearly in the first place?  Wasn't it the condition of our heart and mind?  We get too much "clutter" in there, listening to all the rattling the clutter causes, and then we lose perspective.  If you get to know me, you will realize I "retreat" when this "clutter" gets a little too loud.  I have to get away to "settle" the clutter - sorting things out.  It may not take me long - sometimes only a matter of minutes - but when I recenter my attention on Christ, allowing him to get past the clutter inside my mind and heart, I begin to realize the true perspective of the things which are causing all this "rattling".  There is much to be said about allowing God to get inside where it is we have all this "clutter" - but most importantly, we need to recognize he is the only one who can actually see ABOVE all the clutter!  So, settling comes when we allow someone with a better perspective than we possess to actually get INSIDE our world and take us OUTSIDE of our clutter.

There are a lot of things which really cause a lot of clutter inside our minds and hearts.  The top two which come to mind first are the things which make us anxious and the things which we see as necessary to somehow allow our ambitions to be realized.  Actually, these are closely related - for one feeds into the other.  Anxiety causes unnecessary "clutter" and a whole lot of "racket" in our minds.  Racket is anything which causes a disturbance - especially of the kind which brings confusion.  If you have ever been in a large room with a lot of people and activity galore, you probably have been on sensory overload at some point.  All the racket created by the constant chatter of those individuals and the noise created by the tasks they are performing just puts your senses on overload.  Ignore the "alert" of being on overload, and you will burn a fuse!  We are not made to handle sensory overload for long periods of time - we need to get the racket under control or we will fry!

Our ambitions can also give us some cause for concern only because they drive us forward when we might just need to be still and rest for a while. There is nothing wrong with ambition, but when it consumes us, it becomes something which creates unnecessary clutter and racket in our lives!  Goals are good - without them we drift around aimlessly.  Unrealistic goals - those which another places upon us, but for which we have absolutely no real personal desire to fulfill can cause us great anxiety.  We need to guard against anyone "defining" our goals / ambitions for us besides God himself. He knows what we can handle, what will ignite our passion, and the correct timing for that passion to be stoked.  Sometimes we just need to settle down long enough to evaluate if our ambitions are really the ones God designed for us and designed us for!

If you have ever been consumed by the clutter, you know you no longer look to God to meet your needs.  It isn't because you don't realize you should do this, but because you somehow think you already possess something within the clutter which will meet the need.  Clutter has a way of confusing the issues and making us see things without clear perspective.  When we take time to settle down the racket, allowing God to clean out the clutter, and then get a fresh perspective, we begin to see what it is God designed for us and what he has designed us for.  This issue of a "pure heart" goes way beyond just confessing our sins.  It involves allowing God to be the center of our attention, and dare I say, the "keeper of the clutter".  When we finally give him the clutter to deal with, it is amazing how the things we thought we needed and the noise they created are soon revealed as totally unnecessary in our lives!  Just sayin!

Even slag has a purpose

Yesterday I shared the truth about warnings - they are meant for our safety, but we need to have hearing ears and attentive eyes.  Today, we will look at the third characteristic related to heeding warnings - a responsive heart.  Remembering the heart is really the seat of our emotions, we can just imagine why God wraps the heart up into this picture of avoiding hazards by heeding warnings.  Our emotions can sometimes play tricks on us - making us see something totally different from what is really ahead of us.  Mom asked my sister last night why women choose losers.  I am not sure where this conversation came from, but I guess it was part of a story they were reading, so I just listened.  My sister's response was some women just do because they feel "needed" for the first time, or they feel "special" to someone and this is what they have wanted for so long.  I guess this kind of lends some credence to our discussion this morning - we cannot just listen to our hearts.  We need seeing eyes and hearing ears in the mix, as well.

For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.  But this thing I did command them: Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people; and walk in the whole way that I command you, that it may be well with you.  (Jeremiah 7:22-23 AMP)

In the sixth chapter of Jeremiah, toward the end of the chapter, God describes to Jeremiah the commission upon his life - to be the refiner of ore.  Now, at first this may not seem significant, but when you read on, it becomes apparent God's commission will not be an easy one.  You see, God tells Jeremiah he is about to engage in the task of refining ore - not gold or silver ore, but bronze and iron.  If you know anything about these two, you know they are not pure metals.  The idea conveyed is that of dealing with "slag" - the part of the ore which gets thrown out because it refuses to yield to the fire.  I imagine Jeremiah got a little concerned about this one - for no one wants to boil rocks!  If they are going to spend all that time in the heat of the furnace, they want something of beauty to show for their hard work.  Something caught my eye in this passage, though.  We ALL have the potential of being slag.  Slag is just the waste left over after the refining process is finished.  When we fail to heed warnings, we run the risk of just becoming a bunch of rocks who never yield to the "boiling" process.

This might just speak to you, as well.  We all start out this journey as rocks - hard, unyielding, but filled with lots of potential.  The only way to determine if the rock will realize its full potential is in the fire.  Nothing extracts the pure metal except fire.  If you have ever wondered why you seem to be experiencing so much "fire" in your life, it might just be God's plan to bring more of the beauty inherent in your "core" to the surface!  

As Jeremiah and God converse on, we come to the passage above.  God makes the circumstances of Jeremiah's calling quite plain - he is to guide a people who hear, but don't obey; see, but don't choose the right path; knowing in their minds what is right, but they don't obey.  Put me on that list!  Jeremiah must have been about as excited as wet kindling when he heard that commission!  You are about to embark on the mission of boiling rocks and you will find some of those rocks just don't change much - they will just be rocks!  This is the lot of the refiner - it takes a lot of rocks being boiled to find the true ore in the mix!

The difference between a rock and ore is in their reaction to the fire.  Rocks just stay rocks, but ore begins to break apart until the purity of the "good stuff" interwoven in its recesses begins to be exposed.  We all have rocks and ore in our inner core.  Rocks will just boil, never yielding to the fire.  The only thing to do with the rocks is to throw them out - to cast them on the slag pile.  As the rocks are boiled, the slag begins to come to the surface - allowing the refiner to skim it off.  When he pours out the good metals extracted from the ore, the remaining slag may not seem valuable for any purpose.  Compared to the good metals extracted, the slag just looks like junk.

The opposite is actually true - slag may not have yielded the good metals of highest value, but it provides things of value we might just overlook.  Did you realize slag is used to make roads and foundations for buildings?  The fundamental ingredient in concrete is actually found in the slag pile!  The slag also is used as ballast - the stuff under the railroad ties which gives stability to the ties and beams.  It distributes the load of the train as it passes by, providing stability to those tracks.  Slag is even used in fertilizers - known as phosphate fertilizer.  Now, does that help to shed new light on the "slag" in your life?  Some of us get discouraged because we just see rocks.  God sees the tiny flecks of "good metal" in each of us.  He also sees the purpose for the slag - to give us ballast, help us develop a strong foundation, and to give us the substance for growth.

What God asks:  Listen with hearing ears; respond with obedient hearts; see with eyes which go beyond the seeing only the evident.  We may think we are just boiling rocks - he sees us as metal in the making!  But...he never discards anything he can use in our lives to give us foundation, helps us bear up under the weight and pressures of life, or give us just a little extra "umph" in our growth cycle!  So, what does this have to do with heeding warnings?  When we realize action is what brings us to a place of obedience, not just listening and seeing, we begin to desire the activity of the refiner's fire rather than resist it. Just sayin!

Purify me

Yesterday we discussed passion and purpose.  We have one more character trait to consider in our "P" List which is purity.  Now, this sometimes gets overlooked in our consideration of character traits to "put on" because we don't live in a very "pure" world, do we?  It is hard to make pure choices when all around you others are bombarding you with all kinds of wrong ones.  Purity is the freedom from anything which debases (reduces in quality or value), contaminates (adding/mixing in that which makes unclean), or pollutes (corrupts or defiles).  In the most literal sense, impurity is the "adding in" of something which does not belong.  That which does not belong actually changes the consistency or integrity of what does.

You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.  (Matthew 5:8 MSG)

But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.  (I John 3:2-3 MSG)

Purity of heart - mind, will, and emotions untainted by that which "adds in" the things with confuse, bring conflict in our motives, or sets us up to rely upon the unreliable.  It is with pure hearts we are able to see God - for God is pure.  Children like to emulate adults, don't they?  They mimic behaviors they see in the adults they are frequently around.  The same is true of a child of God - we mimic the behaviors of the one we behold the most frequently.  If we are beholding Christ, we mimic his behaviors.  If we are beholding others who are not like Christ, we might just begin to mimic theirs.  

In essence, purity is the absence of something.  I think this is where we sometimes get it wrong, because we somehow think purity is the "adding" of something rather than allowing something to be removed.  Throughout scripture, there are portions which refer to things like the refiner's fire.  The fire of the refiner burns hot, allowing the metals to melt, bringing to the surface the things which are "contaminants" in the metals - those things which will weaken the integrity and strength of the metal.  We also see the idea of the threshing wheel - the place where the grain is turned over and over again until the grain is separated from the unusable part known as the chaff.  The chaff is blown away, the wheat remains.  There is also the idea of the winemaker observing his wine.  As the grapes are crushed, the juices are extracted, leaving behind that which will only add bitterness and impurity to the finished product.  All these speak to the idea of being free from something which contaminates, weakens, or renders less than useful. 

Purity is the absence of the "contaminating" influences which impact our choices in life.  Whenever we are faced with choices, we find ourselves "weighing" the choices.  Why?  One appears better than the other - it has some "merit" which makes us want to make one choice over the other.  When we are making choices from a pure heart, they will be wise ones.  When we have impurities in our heart (mind, will or emotions), we might just find ourselves making choices which don't produce the purest product in the end.

Purity is actually the result of several things:

- Cleansing:  We often think of cleansing as that which is accomplished through some process of scrubbing, sanitizing, or sweeping away.  God might just think of cleansing as any process which actually empties us.  Empty vessels are readied to receive something afresh.  Cleansing actually "freshens" us - readying us for the new thing God wants to do within.

- Sifting:  Mom had a sifter back in the day.  We don't so much use them today.  In fact, they are hard to find.  The purpose of the sifter was to separate.  The coarse parts were separated from the finer parts.  This is exactly how God uses this process in our lives - he separates the coarser (unwholesome) parts from the finer parts.  

- Burning:  Not too many of us want to jump at this one, because the furnace is a "hot" place.  If a farmer has a stump right in the middle of his field, he may work at removing that stump for a long time.  Digging it out may not seem practical.  Leaving it there allows for it regrow and is a hindrance to the plow.  He will often resort to burning it out.  He exposes it as much as possible and then burns it.  As the burning process occurs, the stump is "consumed".  In the consumption of the stump, it reduces in size and strength.  The fire of God's Word is kind of like this in our lives - it consumes us, reducing anything which will present a hindrance to our spiritual, emotional, or relational health.

So, as we wrap up our "P" List today, let's keep in mind passion and purpose in light of our latest trait, purity.  Purpose is the reason we exist, passion is what gives us the "umph" to fulfill our purpose, and purity is the basis by which we see God's purpose fully come alive in each and every aspect of our lives.  So, instead of resisting the cleansing, sifting, and burning in our lives, maybe we'd do well to embrace it as the means by which we come into what God fully purposes for us.  Just sayin!