My God Alphabet—P: Pure and Purifier
What do you think of when you hear the words “pure gold”?
Perhaps an expensive ring or necklace, or the bricks of the precious metal stored at Fort Knox come to mind. 24-carat gold is considered the “gold standard’ of purity for this precious metal. We’ve come to expect that 24-carat gold is perfect, without any impurities.
Here’s an interesting fact: 24-carat gold— the highest, purest form of gold known, has impurities. It is 99.9% pure but still has .1% impurities in its composition. The truth is we live in a cosmos, with all its beauty, is nevertheless flawed and imperfect.
Perfect purity belongs to God alone. The Triune God: Father,Son, and Holy Spirit are set apart in unimaginable purity and unity, unstainedor polluted by anything seen or unseen. God is perfectly pure and set apart! The Bible uses words like “glorious” and“holy” to try to describe the eternal reality of God’s beautiful, splendorouspurity.
We own some beautiful Amish-built furniture. When we purchasedthe furniture, we were told that the Amish people who skillfully handcraftedeach piece, recognize that perfection belongs to God alone. Each item offurniture, while excellently made, has a few subtle imperfections in the woodthat remind us of God’s set-apart purity and perfection.
There was a time when the first humans walked in pure perfectionwith God in paradise. But our ancestors—and consequently we, theirchildren—lost that perfection and purity when they turned away from God andsought their way apart from Him. Since then, our DNA, and all creation, has theborn the heart-stain of sin and impurity. We were banished from God’s pureplace into a fallen earth that carries both the remnants of its former beautyas well as the curse of disease, sin, and death.
Since that fateful day, when humans turned their back on Him,God set in motion a perfect plan to re-create a new, pure heaven and earthwhere He can live with all who become pure and holy. The great mystery of allthe cosmos is that God, whose purity cannot tolerate sin and impurity, provideda way for all humans to become pure so that we can see and be seen by God. Hisname is Jesus, the Son of God whose perfect, pure life became the life-givingsacrifice and exchange on the cross for our sinful impurities. He is the Onethat the Bible writer wrote,
“…truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” (Hebrews 7:26)
Like gold on this planet, we can try everything we know to tryto make ourselves pure. But even with the best human efforts, we will alwayscome up less than 100% pure, and thus are unqualified to see and live with God.
It’s only when we open our heart and being to the Presence andsaving work of Jesus Christ that we are made pure and holy— set apart. When wedo this, His purity becomes ours. We are bathed in Jesus’ perfectrighteousness, as this Scripture states:
“…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)
We are made pure and holy because of Jesus Christ. The Biblepoints to our newly gained purity in Christ:
“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3)
There is an unshakeable, greathope for flawed, imperfect people like you and me! We don’t need to stay stuckin our fallen, imperfect past or present. God loves to see flawed people madenew, regardless of how young or old, good or bad, or fallen you are. Jesusknows you and offers His very purity and righteousness so that you will live ina perfect relationship with God—Forever. Jesus perfectly stated this reality:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew5:8)
God bless you!
Chris Atkins