Purity ~ 2

Jesus did not promise smooth sailing through life for His disciples.

He warned them of the persecution they would face for bearing His name and being faithful to Him.

He taught them to pray against temptations and to FORGIVE others.

Jesus gave the example for His disciples to follow ~ a life truly dedicated to God, a life of love, purity and holiness…

Jesus did no harm to anyone.  He challenged people, and this ended Him upon the cross.

Jesus truly practiced what He preached and was His Father’s beloved Son.

Purity and holiness can almost be unheard of today, even in some Christian preaching.

It seems that some Christian preaching skips this part of Christian living because it is just too difficult.  You see, when this subject is raised with people it challenges them and their life choices and a real outcome could be that the person suddenly doesn’t like their Christian friend anymore!

But purity and holiness is an important part of discipleship and Christian maturity and is very BIBLICAL!

We live in a world that is led by the destructor whom the majority of people follow without even knowing…

The destructor does not want people to belong to God – he wants to destroy them which is the fate awaiting him.  The destructor does not want people well and thriving and winning others to Christ.  It is true that being a Christian is not an easy lifestyle the destructor will target you often with attacks and temptations to lure you further away from God and tear you down.

I know what it is like to be attacked as a Christian…but I also know the answer – however it is the polar opposite of what the world offers and may not be what you want to hear (and no it’s not a fresh idea of mine…it is firm biblical advice). 

IT IS WAITING PATIENTLY UPON THE LORD IN PURITY…

Let’s look at the common responses from people when they are faced with challenging situations: 

• I can’t deal with this so I’ll seek comfort…some examples are food, alcohol/drugs, partying, distraction with a new lover.
• I’ll deal with it right this instant…leading to an anger fuelled outburst.
• This keeps happening over and over again so it must be due to others in my life…leading to unwise, major life-altering decisions.

Now, let’s look at a genuine, counter-cultural, Christian response…

• Firstly, being STILL and not reacting instantly!  Or expecting the problem to instantly go away.  In our immaturity or when we are vulnerable, we can want God to act like our personal genie, taking away the free will of others who have hurt or upset us.  Or for God to provide us with an answer we want and think is totally reasonable…like a new friend for example.  Problems are truly awful …God knows this!  But God does not hurt or tempt us ever.  He is the solution to our problems, but it takes real effort to continually seek Him and to not seek a temporary Band-Aid solution, gratifying our flesh.  A flip-side to problems is that they provide us with the opportunity to exercise our faith in God and they can also help us to understand what others are going through better.

• Taking our problems to God and waiting patiently for His response, can be done by seeking time-out with God through prayer and scripture reading.  Or praying and watching an appropriate Christian DVD on that topic.  God may answer that day with an appropriate, peaceful response or He may not, as the answer may be bigger and come in an unexpected way.   God may also just want us to simply wait to grow in maturity as a Christian, to learn more patience and experience waiting upon the Lord in holiness and purity.

• Seeking Christian advice and following through with it.  But be warned the advice (answer) may not be what you want to hear.  An example of such an answer could be investing one’s time and money into Christian counselling to truly heal…or simply waiting longer!

• Continued Fellowship with your local church community by attending services, bible studies and so forth during the difficult times as well as the good.  We may not feel like going but I also know people who have (including me) who have commented later that they were so glad they did.  Continued fellowship takes humility and being real.  The reality is that sometimes we don’t want others to see us during our difficult times or think that they will accept us then.  Sometimes we may even need to be humble and attend fellowship with those who have offended us in order for open dialogue, forgiveness and true reconciliation to happen.

Being a Christian is not easy, but it is the way for true peace and joy even during the most difficult of situations…WAITING PATIENTLY UPON THE LORD IN PURITY is the answer!  It is NOT what the world will tell you or what your flesh will want…in our society of INSTANT everything, it truly does require genuine commitment and discipline to lead this counter-cultural life style…but nothing is impossible for God who is more than able to support, protect and sustain you as you continually seek Him daily.

The lyrics of this song speak so loudly of this…

Find rest my soul, in Christ alone

Know His power, in quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with You, above the storm

Father, You are King over the flood

I will be STILL and know You are GOD!

I did write  post on purity in February, it is a stand alone post but also compliments this one; here is the link if you'd like to check that one out too:

Purity Post - 1

Still by Hillsong, clip...