Attaining Purity

Joseph is an excellant example of attainig purity. We can see his immature handling of the revelation of God to him in the reaction of his family. Sadly, he was only being human. The consequent events were not only to fulfill the covenant word by God to Abraham, but, also, to bring Joseph to the relationship with God that would allow God to move through him. This truth reveals the necessity for each of us to come to maturity and purity.

First, let us look at purity. What is purity? Jesus was pure. I have heard the response to that statement so many times that it is almost the common response. "Yes, but that was Jesus. I can't have that until I get to heaven." Jesus is the plumbline to which we will be judged. Before you get riled by that statement, let me explain. Jesus came to reveal the Father and the relationship possible for a person in this realm to attain to the same relationship with the Father that He had by prayer, obedience to the Spirit's leading, and submission to the will of the Father. These are part of the process toward relationship with God, but are also the elements of your path to purity. Purity demands we outgrow our self involvement. Losing our dependence on the wrong motivation, i.e., acting out what we think people want to see, reaching for a higher position for our own glory, or for self-justification.

What would Jesus do? This becomes a check with purity. The Word of God reveals what Jesus did, but the Spirit is our guide for that inner response. Forgiveness and thankfulness are two elements of purity that have to be practiced to become a part of us. Practice forgiveness among strangers when you are out driving or shopping or relaxing instead of giving way to criticism. Practice turning your eyes away from anything that would drive your mind to temptation. Philippians 4:8-9 (NLT) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The purity of Jesus that God is seeking to find in all of us is not a product of our own works. It requires our focus, our response and our carefulness to avoid vital connection with this world. We may be in it but we are not to be of it. But we do not achieve this by our own will power. The Holy Spirit in us nudges us toward that which pleases God. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

David cried, Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a stedfast spirit within me. And in the same fifty-first psalm, he prayed that God would save him from bloodguilt. There are things we do out of human-adamic nature that we would not do when we are focused on our relationship with God and that we regret bitterly later. But David realized his blood was guilty. The fountain of his life stood condemned. Only God could deliver him from his guilt. This is what Jesus took into Himself and paid for with His blood. We can be pure because of Jesus' sacrifice and we can walk in His way. We choose to follow and in so doing, we choose purity. Repentance is the cane that keeps us from falling from the way.