I was drinking some today, which is pretty standard. I noticed that their slogan on the bottle is "Pure Life" That really got me thinking. They say that to remind you that it doesn't have any junk in it. The water doesn't have anything that would pollute or contaminate it. It did at one point, but it was put through filters, and those things were worked out of it so that we could have Nestle Pure Life water.
If it said "Kind of pure" or even "mostly pure" we wouldn't want to drink it! I don't want to drink water that has "only a little bit of pollution" in it. I want pure water! We even go so far as to support getting clean water to other countries. We send money to dig wells and get purifiers to them so that they don't have to drink contaminated water either. Clean, pure water is a big deal to us.
What about ourselves though? James 4:8 tells us, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
1 Timothy says that we should be setting the example in purity.
Throughout the Bible we're told to be pure. We're told that we need to rid ourselves of the contamination and the pollution. Christ made us His bride, His pure bride.
We're made pure by the blood of Christ. His death paid for our sin, it removed our impurity. However, that doesn't justify lifestyles of sin. We're called to live pure and blameless lives! (Philippians 1:9-10)
We're not okay with putting contaminated water into our bodies, why should we be okay with leaving contamination in them? We need to rid ourselves of the pollution from sin.
Just like with water, that requires a filter.
Our filter is the Word of God. God has given us His standard within the Bible, we are called to live by it.
Philippians 4:8 is one of my favorite verses, and I've often described it as a content filter.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
These things are what we're called to live by. That implies that things that don't qualify in this list don't belong in our lives. Remove the pollution! Decontaminate!
I recently saw the new movie, "Monster's University" and it reminded me of it's counterpart, "Monster's Inc." In that movie, one unfortunate monster gets contaminated by items belonging to humans on multiple occasions. Every time the clean up crew runs in yelling "2319!!!! We have a 2319!!!" They put him in a bag, and they shave his entire body, and they spray him down. All with the goal of decontaminating him.
We need to become like that towards our sin, urgent to decontaminate ourselves, no hesitation to remove anything that might get in the way of our walks with God.
Father, purify our hearts, create in us new hearts with a desire only for You. Change our focus to Your face and Your glory. Lead us in Your paths, make us like Jesus. Amen.
