Purity

Matthew 5:8 blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Hebrews 12:4 ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Tit 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. This verse in Titus tells us much about the Christian who has things in perspective and lives according to the dictates of the word of God. An innocent person is not a safe person because they have not faced the enemy and striven with sin and came away victorious. Purity is quite different to innocence because purity is a quality attained from our sympathetic association with God. First of all when we become a child of God we are made pure in our spirit forever. The purity that is seen by others is that which we live daily shunning things that defile our thinking and our actions and submitting to the holiness of God. Adam and Eve were innocent until they were tested and failed the test as each of us has failed.

There is a little animal that lives in the forests of northern Europe and Asia called an ermine. This little animal has one of the most beautiful coats of any other animal and is sought for by the fur traders of the world. This little animal will protect its beautiful coat at the cost of its own life. It is said that when the hunters go after the ermine, they do not set a snare or a trap to catch it, but take cruel advantage of its peculiar pride in its white fur coat. They will find where its lair is and daub the entrance to it with filth. The hunters set the dogs on the trail of the animal and chase it to the entrance of its home which may be a hollow tree or a cleft in a rock. When the ermine flees from the dogs to his lair and finds it spread with filth, rather than defile its beautiful coat, it will turn and face the dogs and fight and defile its coat with blood rather than defile it with the filth.

What a lesson for us; Paul told Timothy, "Keep thyself pure." At all costs we must keep our hearts and minds pure. We are not as careful as the little ermine, we expose ourselves to things evil in order to get what we want. We should take a lesson from the little ermine and turn from the things that defile us. We must shun impure thoughts and companions that would lead us in paths that we know are wrong and into situations that will snare us into wrong thinking and consequently into wrong doing.

Is purity dearer than life to us? It is to this little creature. Purity speaks of transparency; a life that has nothing to hide, a character that would submit to the closest scrutiny, a walk that speaks of constant contact with Christ and an openness that receives every person with the same accepting grace regardless of their station or status in the world and in society. Remember, innocence once lost is never regained. However purity is attainable to anyone who will determine to be associated with God our Father and learn his ways and His word and walk with him.