Purity

(Matthew 5:8) –GW
“Blessed are those whose thoughts are pure. They will see God.”

(Proverbs 25:4) –MSG
“Remove impurities from the silver and the silversmith can craft a fine chalice.”

Purity is commendable. What person commends another for his/her lack of purity? What element is desired to be impure? It should be our goal to remove impurities. Silver (or gold or diamonds for that matter), would not be as valuable or desirable as they are without the process that removes impurities. Why? Purity is beautiful. Is a diamond desired unless it meets the four C’s during inspection? The inspector examines the diamond for Cut, Clarity, Color, and Carat. The purity determines the quality.

Ponder on this: pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals. That means that the conductivity is reliable. People desire to use pure silver on circuit boards when they need the circuit board to work right the first time and every time. Remove impurities from your life so you can be conducive to GOD’s will for your life and the lives of others. To be as pure as possible, we need only to be in alignment with GOD’s will, which can be discerned by knowing GOD’s Word. The better you are aligned with GOD’s will, the more pure you become; therefore, your conductivity grows greater and greater. Those who follow GOD’s Word are better equipped to receive GOD’s directions; those who are better equipped to receive GOD’s directions are less likely to get lost.

(Ecclesiastes 10:1) –MSG
“Dead flies in perfume make it stink, and a little foolishness decomposes much wisdom.”

The bad contaminates what is good. A person desires his/her drinking water to be pure, right? Would you purchase purified water and then pour dirt in it right before you drink it? Would you put moldy bread in with fresh baked bread? Would you put your kitty cat in a coyote’s den? Good and bad don’t belong together. Good that is surrounded by bad stands a great chance of becoming bad. Picture purified water as the good in your life. Now picture just a single drop of food coloring as something that is bad. If you were to drip food coloring into purified water, that food coloring would spread and soon the water would no longer be clear. The bad contaminates the good. Did you know that GOD calls your sex life to be pure as well? Are you filling your body with contaminates? Are you filling your mind with impure thoughts? Is your house infested with mold? What impurities do you need to remove from your life today?  May the following Scriptures help guide you with your future decisions:

(Philippians 4:8) –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.”

(Leviticus 20:7-8) –NLT
“So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.”

(Ezekiel 44:23) –AMP
“The priests shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common or profane, and cause them to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”

(Matthew 5:28) –NIV
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

(Matthew 5:28) –MSG
“Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.”

(John 8:34) –NLT
“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.’ ”

(1Corinthians 6:18-19) –GW
“Stay away from sexual sins. Other sins that people commit don’t affect their bodies the same way sexual sins do. People who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves.”

(1Corinthians 6:16-20) –MSG
“There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”

(1Thessalonians 4:3-7) –GW
“It is God’s will that you keep away from sexual sin as a mark of your devotion to him. Each of you should know that finding a husband or wife for yourself is to be done in a holy and honorable way, not in the passionate, lustful way of people who don’t know God. No one should take advantage of or exploit other believers that way. The Lord is the one who punishes people for all these things. We’ve already told you and warned you about this. God didn’t call us to be sexually immoral but to be holy.”

(2Corinthians 6:14-16) –GW
“Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness? Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever? Can God’s temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said, ‘I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ ” —[Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27]

(2Timothy 2:21) –NLT
“If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”

(Matthew 15:11) –NLT
“It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

(Proverbs 20:1) –GW
“Wine makes people mock, liquor makes them noisy, and everyone under their influence is unwise.”

(Proverbs 31:4) –NLT
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol.”

(Hosea 4:11) –ERV
“Sexual sins, strong drink, and new wine ruin a person’s ability to think straight.”

(Micah 2:11) –CEV
“The only prophet you want is a liar who will say, ‘Drink and get drunk!’ ”

(Habakkuk 2:15) –AMP
“Woe to him who gives his neighbors drink, who pours out your bottle to them and adds to it your poisonous and blighting wrath and also makes them drunk, that you may look on their stripped condition and pour out foul shame [on their glory]!”

(Amos 2:12) –NLT
“But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’”

In Genesis 9:20-25, Noah lost control and made a big mistake due to alcohol.

In Genesis 19:31-36, Lot was deceived and impregnated his  own daughters because he was drunk and unable to think clearly.

(Numbers 6:2-3) –NLT
“If any of the people, either men or women, take the special vow of a Nazirite, setting themselves apart to the Lord in a special way, they must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks.”

(Luke 1:14-16) –GW
“He [John the Baptist] will be your pride and joy, and many people will be glad that he was born. As far as the Lord is concerned, he will be a great man. He will never drink wine or any other liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring many people in Israel back to the Lord their God.”

(Judges 13:3-4) –GW
“The Messenger of the Lord appeared to her [Manoah] and said, ‘You’ve never been able to have a child, but now you will become pregnant and have a son [Samson]. Now you must be careful. Don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food.’ ”

(Isaiah 28:7) –GW
“Priests and prophets stagger from wine and wobble from too much liquor. They stagger from too much liquor and become confused from too much wine. They wobble because of their liquor. They stagger when they see visions. They swerve as they judge.”