Will You Think about My Box?

Is purity important to you?

Let me approach the same question another way, using several examples.

Imagine that you are looking for a *new* car. You inspect its body, every inch of the interior. Even if you know only a little about mechanics, you want to see a lot of shiny parts under the hood. It is *new* and you expect it to be unblemished.

When you are served a glass of water at a restaurant and you notice lip prints on the rim of the glass (gross!), you send it back. You expect a clean glass.

Shopping for an article of clothing you make a selection, but notice a small 'spot.' You put the item back; you expect it to be unstained.

When buying a special ring for your wife, would you prefer 14 or 24 caret gold? And what about the diamond? Clarity is one of the “Four C’s” of diamonds that defines value. You probably prefer the purest gold and the clearest diamond you can afford.

Truth be known, none of us really prefers the unretouched portrait photo. We would like people to see our wrinkles softened, stray hair adjusted, the bird that bombed the outdoor photo removed. We prefer to remove the blemishes.

Blemishes get our attention and they irritate us: Blemishes, stains, impurities and flaws in everyday life; personal flaws, past sins. They are all a part of life; we prefer life without them. Yet how often we focus on them, obsess over them.

Some people are really good at noticing blemishes. They often criticize. Show off a new article of clothing and they will zero in on the most insignificant flaw. They will see the mistake you made in your freshly painted room (oops). You can walk, skip, hop, and run a hundred miles, and they will remind you of the instant that you stumbled.

The empty ‘quote box’ (that white box above) really irritates some folks. They find it distracting, not because of what is there, but because it is unexpected. An empty box in the middle of an blog article (blarticle) appears to be a flaw.

However, did you notice how clean it looks? Did you see how pure it is?

I know that it has never had words in it. It wasn’t an old messy box that I cleaned up. It started out clean and remains clean. Pure.

There are different ways to be pure; the Bible describes each. In the Old Testament sacrifices and cleansing rituals brought about a state of cleanliness before God. (Uncleanness affected one's standing with God and the community of God's people.)

A practical way of achieving purity is to remove impurities. Filtered water is a good example.

In these first two examples of uncleanness and impurity, something blemished is made pure.

Purity also exists where there had never been a flaw, like my empty 'quote box.' There is no need of cleansing. For lack of a better explanation, you might call this perfect purity. Would you agree that this kind of 'never-before-blemished' purity is rare?

The Apostle Paul encouraged:

     Whatsoever things are...pure…
     dwell on these things.
                               —Philippians 4:8

God invites you to stop! and spend some time thinking about things or people that fit the description of purity.
(To do this you will need to put down your phone and get off the Internet; stop watching/reading the latest news.)

Sooo...STOP. Think. Things that are pure.

Now, let me ask: "Is purity important to you?"