"…Whatever is pure - think about such things." Philippians 4:8
Why is it that we want God, our foods, precious metals, our bosses and politicians to be pure, but when purity is mentioned for ourselves we bristle a bit? It is as if purity is good for others, just not for us. Perhaps we feel that being pure makes us 'weirdo Jesus freaks' to our friends and families. Maybe we recoil at purity because we fear being left out of all the 'fun' (parties, jokes). Another reason we may fear purity is because of the Church's history with it. Most churches and people who try to be pure end up being legalistic and judgmental. But Jesus was pure in all His ways and yet was neither - He was pure, loving and kind. This is because it was His…
MINDSET TO BE PURE…
"Such a High Priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart, from sinners, exalted above the heavens." Hebrews 7:26
For Jesus to represent us, as our High Priest, He had to be pure. He was sinless so He could take our sin away. This is just one of the upsides of purity, it is a gift to others, especially when it is for someone else and not for selfish reasons. When our mindset is like Christ's, we will think of others and how our actions affect them. Certainly purity is a benefit for the one who is pure, but it's not the sole motivation. Genuine purity saves yourself and your loved ones. God is pleased when we live pure lives, but it is for others that our purity has the greatest impact.
…WHICH MAKES US MATURE.
"To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted, nothing is pure… their minds and their consciences are corrupted." Titus 1:15
An impure mind leads to a corrupted conscience (heart). When this happens there is little hope for right thinking. It's by way of the conscience the Spirit speaks, and how He leads us to a cleansing confession of sin. If our conscience is corrupted, we stop listening to the Spirit's voice. The word pure is 'katharos' (catharsis), which means to be cleansed and set free. In this corrupted world we must stay clean before God. This helps us to become mature. Maturity in Christ will change the way we think about sin. This correct thinking keeps us from being corrupted.
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