Purity #2

My second pondering on purity comes from a discussion we had at home about holiness/purity/morality.

An illustration was given...
If you are wearing a white t-shirt you are careful to keep clean and you are aware of the smallest spot of dinner you drop down your front.
If you are wearing a dark top you can drop all sorts down your front and will not notice.

Infact, that day I was wearing a black top with a red cross, but I did have food spilled down it. Wearing the cross did not make me clean, the dark top meant the dirt did not show.

What does this mean in practice?
It shows how, if you are setting a high standard you will be aware of every spot and moral weakness and that will send you back to God for His cleansings.
If your standard is not set so high, all sorts of stuff can creep in step by step, and then you end up in a dilema or a big mess and you think “How did I get here???”

I have good friends who have made BIG mistakes. (I do not judge them, I pray to God he will be able to keep working in their lives so it comes good in the end).
I am sure none of these people would have dreamed of doing what they ended up doing, but somehow what they stood for gradually got erroded until they gave up or gave in or made a rash and previously out of character choice.

Someone else said (years ago) that it is easier to stop the car a mile from the cliff than an inch from the edge.
Our attitude should be how high we can set the standard, how much we can show our love for God. Not how much we can get away with.

Talking about standards can sound a bit negative, like you have to make the grade.
I prefer to think about the positives
... to be clean and free to express love to God.
... to be able to relate to others in purity without issues and agendas
... to be able to truly want the best for another person (not to want my own way)
... to be free from fear that untruths we have told will catch up with us
... to be able to worship without vanity, or pride, or self consciousness
... to be clear in your motives
... to be the person people can come to for help in God
... to not be the person they come to when they have a borderline joke to tell
... and so on!