A False Sense of Purity

"We pride ourselves in our outward followship of Christ, without any thought to whether our motives are inherently pure within." -Janessa Shelton

False Securities:

When I think about purity, the last thing I think of is the body. I think of the motives, the lack of guile in a person and it reminds me of Nathaniel in the Bible where Jesus said: "In whom is no guile."

Nathaniel had no motives of manipulation, he did not have an angle -as did Judas! Judas had an angle for following Christ. He was in it for what he got out of it, and had highly selfish motivation behind his followship. If you remember he was a rebel against the Roman Government of his day, and thought that Christ's promised deliverance, and talk of peace and safety, was that of this world. He is a perfect icon of the modern Christian who only follows after Jesus when they feel he has an advantage point. When they begin to feel cheated, they in turn feel owed. Do you ever wonder why Judas was the treasurer of the thirteen? He was responsible for the finances -what little they had- and Jesus albeit, all knowingly, entrusted it to Judas! This alone, tells us that Christ isn't all about us being perfect or sinless. In fact, he knows our frame is but dust, and that even when our spirit is very willing, that our flesh is weak.

We would be best to remember this when it comes to our children when they are weak to implement an emergency structure for when those times occur. (remember when Peter's flesh was weak, he was in the company of Jesus? That would be a good start)! The active presence of Jesus is a great starting point toward success in the feat for purity! Parents, we believe our presence or some other human presence is the answer to our child's bodily purity. It does help? But in the end, the person the most forgotten and unheeded, in the time of temptation, is Christ.

Remember when I talked about how other Believers tend to view Christianity like a shiny new product trying to sale a false or deceptive image of an actual item by the appearance of the packaging? In this manner I am speaking of, we still view Christianity from the point of a customer. We expect Christ to 'sell' us on why we should be faithful to Him! We expect all the bells and whistles attached to the current expectations of pleasure. We are not willing to wait, we want the advantages of a relationship with Christ now! And equating our expected 'deal' with Jesus to his sufferings is not attractive!

We pride ourselves in our outward followship of Christ, without any thought to whether our motives are inherently pure within. We are under a false security of purity, when we do not follow the Lord Jesus without guile as did Nathaniel.

Nathaniel, when he heard Jesus tell him where he was when he was sitting and the tree he was under, did not have any doubts of Christ's Lordship in that moment, but it did not bend his angle to Jesus. He was told to come and see the Messiah, and his heart was willing to meet Christ without proof. Jesus, by telling Nathaniel where he was located did not concrete what Nathaniel already trusted and believed because he knew Nathaniel was not a skeptic. He was not analytical and cynical. He was pure in heart and believed what he was told at face value from his trusted friends.

Like Christians should also be.

Our purity should be heart deep, not skin deep.

And walking purely before Christ should be sincerely without expectation of gain. Rather, it embraces an expectation of loss. Loss of a lot of thing because we have counted the cost and chosen suffering with Christ and is constrained to walk closely with Him due understanding the depth of Jesus' sufferings and love on the cross.

Our decision to keep our minds, motives and hearts pure, stems from a desire to obey once we understand how incredible Jesus' love for us truly is! His love and grace are the proverbial cords that bind us close to his heart.

We do not live holy lives as fear of God's wrath and anger, we should follow out of sheer joy and love for his love wherein he loves us! Yes, we should fear the Lord, but the Love of our Savior, and understanding his heart toward us, all he has given, and will give to us when all is said and done provokes us to good works!

When Outward Purity Becomes Important:

Purity culture: (the parents who proverbially breathes down their children's neck during one specific time period in their development- instead of focusing on purity consistently in their children's lives, is primarily due to the fear of shame of their child's behavior nine times out of ten. One should truly care about the spiritual state of their children consistently throughout their life, than their own 'image' and what others might think if their child makes the terrible choice to 'throw their life away' as some call it. But truly, we have emphasized all the wrong things in purity culture.(I do not disagree with the desire to help your child get to the wedding altar pure, only the assumptions and 'methodology' of assuring it.

A ring on a finger as a symbol of purity and a vow only blurs the inevitable. It tells your child that you have an insecurity about trusting your child to fear God. It also misconstrues the wedding ring once applied to the hand as if they 'lost their purity' upon marriage, -which they did not!

We, as the parents may not consider this viewpoint, but the question demanding an answer is: Who began the ring concept before marriage, and why? If rings are to be given, should it not rather, but a symbol of celebration and not ties to an oath? Could we not celebrate the fact that the child has maintained a seriously glorious walk with their Savior? That they have inwardly purposed to live a holy life up to the point of their youth? Rather, we have somehow deducted that a metallic band wrapping around the flesh, tied to a vow to us is somehow ensures a child's purity. If this is the assumption, or anything even close to it, we must back up and reassess this movement altogether at its motives, its purpose, and its meter of guile.

Outward purity is very important in so many ways. Not only in reserving their bodies for marriage, but also living in cleanliness and purposeful living. They should desire to look pure and clean. They will be driven to take care of their 'temple' when they view Christ in the right light. They should avoid drug and alcohol abuse. They should avoid overeating, laziness, and lack of initiative. They should seek responsibility, and accountability of their parents and authorities. They should be in the Word daily seeking their life path. (Wait are we sure we are talking about teenagers?! YES!)

When a teenager is following Christ on their own you have a serious cause for celebration! When we focus on not dating, and all the things our children are not allowed to do, attire they are not allowed to wear, music they are denied, and peers they cannot hang around, it makes us the morality meter to our children which makes living the Christian life exhausting! But if up to this point we are teaching our children as we go through life how to follow the Lord, one will be surprised what our teenagers choose for their moral fabric, and will find it not much different than our own. We must be willing to teach why and how and when before they reach their teenage years. We must root and ground them with measures for which to take when they are in any given situation!

They also will have the heart to honor their parents and obey them as best they can. Because they desire an inward purity that transcends the bodily purity. It is deeper. It is healthier, it lacks guile.

Have you taught your son or daughter what the appropriate reactions are in public when a specific scenario occurs that is out of their control, and not instigated by them? What are they to do? What are the Biblical steps to help them stay pure in that given moment with them and the Lord?

-I believe it is time that we rethink how to teach our children purity and step back and assess what exactly do we believe it is? Because I think. I truly think we have forgotten.