The Pure Life.

                  let us purify ourselves from

         everything that contaminates body and spirit,

         perfecting holiness out of reverence for God

Contamination is a factor in life—have you noticed?  I live in a beach town, and from time to time, we deal with contamination in our waters, and beaches are closed for the safety of the public.  Recently, there has been a problem with eggs … folks have gotten sick after eating eggs produced in a particular area.  It is easy to understand how contamination effects food and water supplies, and even how we can choose to pollute our own bodies willfully through cigarettes, drugs, alcohol and overconsumption in general. 

I guess it isn’t surprising that intestinal ‘cleanses’ have surged in popularity as folks try to rid themselves of harmful toxins.  Actually, just this week, I was pleased to discover the “Master Cleanse”, and see the benefits of such an endeavor, particularly when combined with prayer.   I can see how getting mastery over physical appetites is pleasing to God.

What about the contamination of our spirits?  Do we even know when our spirits have been corrupted by an influence or a chosen behavior?  Because either may lead us into compromise, don’t you see? 

God called us to holiness—‘Be holy, even as I am holy,’ he commanded.  In order to live holy lives, we must purify ourselves.  On the Master Cleanse, the staple of the plan is a homemade organic lemonade, to which one must confine herself … all with the goal of an internal cleanse, of purifying our bodies.  Now, what about purifying our spirits?  What is the equivalent of the organic lemonade, spiritually speaking? 

Sometimes our lives are so contaminated by extraneous material, we are being pulled down by it, yet we do not even realize we are swimming upstream in the muck?  How do we see clearly, I ask you?  And, how do we make a correction in our course BEFORE life gets our attention through a jarring or traumatic event--that makes us realize we have:

         misplaced our priorities

         complicated our lives unnecessarily

         allowed compromise to become a slippery slope into apathy, or

         fallen recklessly, maybe seemingly unintentionally, into sin

Just as the recognition and desire for purity in health is a willful choice, so too is the desire for purity in our spiritual lives.  Just as a person may feel sluggish, overweight, or out of control physically, then purpose to move toward wholesale change, so too the Christian comes to the realization that God calls us to purity before him, nothing less. 

Allow me to press “pause” right here, and ask you:

         What have you allowed to contaminate your body?_____________________________________________________________

While we are no longer under the Law, we are to remember that while

‘Everything is permissible—not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible—but I will not be mastered by anything.’ 1 Corinthians 6.12   Hey, what has you in its grip?  Alcohol?  Chocolate?  Weed?  Being consumed by work?  Not enough sleep?

Take a moment to be honest with yourself about what you have allowed to contaminate your body.

         What have you allowed to contaminate your spirit?____________________________________________________________

Perhaps some solitude is in order here . . . perhaps some soul searching.

‘Search me, O God, and know my heart…’what makes me less available to the Spirit?

Be silent and listen.

Surely it comes through my senses, Lord—something I first entertain in my mind, rather than thinking on that which is ‘true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable or praiseworthy’?

‘Everyone who [is a child of God] purifies himself, just as he is pure.’ 1 John 3.3

Why would we ask ourselves about contaminating our bodies and spirits? 

Really...why bother?  Quite simply....because we love God more than our muck. 

Christine