[But among you there must not be even a hint of] … or of any kind of impurity
Summary: Paul’s admonition to expel any kind of impurity leads us to ponder what an impurity is and how we get rid of it.
The word for the day is “profligate.” It’s pronounced “prah-fli-get” and means”recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.”* It is a good word, but not used much anymore.** It showed up in Strong’s Concordance as an example of the Greek word “akatharsia,” which the NIV translated as “impurity.”
To live a profligate life is to indulge the senses and satisfy our emotional cravings. Not only does the profligate put their “self” above all else, but they take self-indulgence to a new level and make an art form of it. It is not hard to imagine the spiritual impurity that results from such a lifestyle.
The other day I was listening to someone talk about how God wants to bless us with good things. His words echoed passages like Luke 11:11, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?,” and Matthew 25:21, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
I have always been cautious of material things because they seem to tug on the very things that Paul warns us against. The connection between “me” and “mine” is strong. If I have a material thing that is important to me, I find all sorts of thoughts nagging at the edges of my mind that I am not proud of. One little worry about losing my “thing,” whatever it might be, can become an impurity in my soul.
While I believe that God wants us to have good material things, it is more important that we have a relationship with God that is pure and unsullied. To the extent that having “things” gets in the way of our relationship with our Father, it is probably better that we don’t have more than we need. On the other hand, as our relationship with the Father grows in faith, our capacity for having things without being held captive by them increases.
Next Sunday at church, look at the people around you. Every person is unique, and each of us is in a different place in their walk with God. Some people have money, others have bills. Some people are hurting, others are full of joy. Each of us comes to God in our own unique way. No two people are exactly the same in church or in any other place.
As Christians, we are challenged to get rid of “any kind of impurity.” It is a personal journey for each of us. We can’t do it on our own. We need Jesus.
Application: Ask Jesus to fill you with himself and drive out every impurity.
Food for Thought: What is life like without impurity?
*online dictionary
**Per Google’s N-gram viewer. “Profligate” was used about as much in the early 1800’s as the word “greedy” is used today.
What is life like without impurity?
I think the opposite of a life in impurity would be a life in holiness.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 ESV For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
Seeking holiness really starts in submitted to Jesus as Lord of our life. Trusting that if that is what we seek, He will guide us to it. When the Holy Spirit lays on our hearts that we have impurity in our life, we have to turn away from it. Sometimes the hard part of that is finding peace in the turning away. What I mean by that is, one can stop doing an act of impurity, and not repent and be healed from it. Yes, there is absolutely the stopping, but there is follow-up with Jesus. Understanding why we think/thought that way in the first place. What were the motivations? Once we are able to see the truth, we have a balanced scale to decide from. It changes from “I can’t do that because its a sin” to “I can’t do that because it separates me from the Spirit, and I can see how it destroys my life and life with Him.” It may sound like I am saying the same thing, but I’m not. If we rely solely on what we “don’t do” for holiness, we lose that relationship piece with Jesus. If we rely on captive decisions based on truth, truth given to us in God’s word in in our time alone with Him, in the full knowledge of how it affects our relationship with Him, our relationship with Him grows stronger. We don’t become holy, holiness lives in us, and drives out impurity. There is peace in that relationship. Instead of “I want to that but I can’t,” it becomes “I don’t want to do that because…”
2 Timothy 1:9 ESV Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
Chris
Great point! I like how you describe our need to be filled with God’s holiness to drive out sin rather than trying to create a vacuum by holding out sin on our own.
I like CH’s point too.
The opposite of impurity would be purity. Whereas impurity seeks selfless desires with devotion only to the self, purity seeks a single minded devotion to God. A life lived without impurity would be a life of singleminded devotedness to the Lord. It would be Christ focused instead of self focused and sets us up to fulfill the great commandment to love God above all else with all that we have and are and love others as ourselves.
Rich
Thank you! Well said. 🙂
Single minded devotion to the Lord doesn’t leave much room for worrying about other things, does it?
08-03-2022, What is life like without impurity?
Impurity is the condition of being defiled in some sense. The word impurity can also refer to the contaminant itself: an unwanted substance that makes something unclean. Pure gold has been refined to such a degree that all dross has been removed. A pure life is one in which sin has no power and does not influence the choices one makes.
God alone is truly pure and when He created the heavens and the earth, everything was pure. There was no death, decay, pollution, or sin, until man chose to disobey God, and became contaminated by the impurity of his decision, Genesis 1-3
Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” Matthew 5:8. Since we are sinners, forgiven sinners and continue to sin, how do we become pure in heart???
We Can’t, we receive a pure heart when Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit cleanses, resides in our hearts, and becomes the life long renewing power of God in us. The steadfast Holy Spirit within believers distributes Gifts of God and empowers believers to effectively minister to all those He brings into our sphere of influence.
1 Corinthians 12-14, Psalm 51:10, Romans 8:9
Without impurity, He convicts, instructs, empowers and speaks to others through us as we submit to His will over ours. We are called to be the instruments used by God to minister to this world.
John 3:27, 15:12, 15:4-5, Philippians 4:13, Luke 5:4-11, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 1:1-3
Thanks Ron!
I’ll put a link to all of your Bible references here.
I like the picture you paint of God’s creation being pure when it was made, then defiled by sin, then made pure again through Christ.
It is almost unbelievable that such a thing could happen. Yet in our impure world, God touches the heart of the believer and makes it new again. In spiritual terms, the Light of Creation forms in the heart of the believer and becomes a star in the spiritual darkness we live in. All of this because Jesus died on the cross for us, shed his blood as the perfect sacrifice for sin, and reaches out to us in love.
Wow.
You very well voice the amazing truth of His love and work for the salvation of His rebellious creation. We should all be encouraged to increasingly make ourselves small so He can shine brighter and draw others to Him.
Continued Blessings Brother!
Ron