Priceless Purity and Innocence

“Dear Princess,” he responded, “few treasures are so easily lost as thy purity – yet few so important to keep.”

Purity is a subject that has been heavy on my heart lately. And I don’t really mean sexual purity, because while that is an important goal/attribute, most of us already know about it and hear about it on a regular basis. My thoughts have been focused on inner purity- purity of motives and desire.

The above quote is from a book I recently began reading called Before You Meet Prince Charming. It’s a book directed towards young girls (about 11-15) and the call to have radiant purity. Kayla and I have decided to study scripture and a few other texts together so that hopefully, in the near future, we can lead a study with younger girls in our homeschool group and churches. I’m really looking forward to it as a time to build up my relationship with her, the young girls, and most importantly- God.

In Before You Meet Prince Charming, the author throws in a few sections of a “fairy tale” about a young(16), innocent princess who has been protected and adored by her father, the King. One day, she began to question if there was something wrong with her innocence – “But if I never experience the real world, I fear I will never fit in.”

[According to Random House Dictionary of the English Language - College Edition...]
Innocence: n. 1. The quality or state of being innocent; freedom from sin or moral wrong. 2. Chastity or purity “She has not lost her innocence.” 3. Freedom from legal or specific wrong; guiltlessness. 4. Simplicity; guiltlessness; ingeniousness. 5. Lack of knowledge or understanding naïveté of an unworldly person. 6. Harmlessness; innocuousness...
[For the rest of this post, try to think of the word “innocent” as including ALL those definitions of the word, unless I specifically describe one definition. You can throw rocks at me later if you really disagree, but that’s the viewpoint I’ve taken through this study. ]

Innocence (in the sense of sheltered innocence) is looked on in such a negative light. It’s true, we shouldn’t separate ourselves from the world because we need to experience it and be able to connect with others on a reasonable level in order to be effective spreading the Gospel. But being innocent can also mean being blameless, or guiltless. God washes away our sin and restores us – even makes us brand new creatures, but we are supposed to maintain and keep that purity to the best of our abilities. Placing yourself in a situation that could potentially lead to sin isn’t excusable just because “I need to connect with others and understand them.” Pure light is not meant to be covered up by even a façade of ungodliness; it’s supposed to stand on a pedestal to shine into the lives of others.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Experience with pain and trials is not what I’m saying we should be "innocent" about; because those, in most cases, DO have meaning and potential. We aren’t supposed to bury our head in the sand and look for shelter every time a trial arises in our life. No. Those are the times when we need to rely on God to direct us, point out our weaknesses in our relationship with Him, and help us learn from it – grow and be strengthened. 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The pure innocence of a child is beautiful, not shameful, and it isn’t biased. A child who is truly innocent won’t seem so in front of some people and not in front of others. While it’s tempting, we can’t allow ourselves, as children of the King, to be “pure” in only one section of our lives. After all, God sees every piece to the puzzle, not just the pretty ones.

Motive is where I’ve recently questioned my own purity; and to my dismay and frustration, I discovered that it wasn’t as pure as I’d allowed myself to believe. Giving your heart to God is best source of protection, comfort, and peace that you can ever hope for. I was disappointed to realize that I had allowed pieces of my own heart, which I knew God was asking me to give entirely to Him, to be chipped away. What is more fulfilling than loving and having a relationship with God? Nothing; yet I, in the past, had become discontent and ended up losing even a small portion of what could have been given over to Him as whole and –well, pure. But now, through His grace, I’ve been remade and no longer need to feel unworthy to enter His presence. (<- A post on that subject coming soon :D )

So, my point, which I went way off on a terrible rabbit trail to explain (sorry), is this – Even if we know that our purity and innocence before God has already been tainted or maybe even shattered, He is ready to wash it away completely. Then, – coming back to the quote – we need to KEEP it as the priceless treasure that it is. When I think about how important it is for us to please and remain purely beautiful in the sight of the Lord, I can’t help but wonder how we could risk that purity, which He loves, for things that are temporary and don’t really matter. “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It’s easy to get caught up in impure things because we think under “finite” terms. Pressure to sin and desire for popularity, wealth, and attention are RIGHT THERE in front of us; but God? He’s way of in the distance – you know, eternity. :P The thing is, He is INFINITE. Infinite doesn’t just mean He goes on forever in the future, it means that He is without boundary. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) We TALK to Him daily, constantly (or should anyways) and we can FEEL His presence, we can SEE His wondrous miracles. So why do we act as if He doesn’t see the sin in our lives right now? The lyrics to a beautiful song remind me of the kind of attitude I want to have toward my walk with Him. “I don’t want to talk about You like You’re not in the room. I want to look right at You. I want to sing right to You.” As a friend recently testified to me: “No more secret sin!” Admit it and do you and your Creator a huge favor by handing it over. He’s not going to condemn you; He’s going to be overjoyed to relieve a burden off of His beloved child’s back.

Stop for a second and think about where our purity –our light- comes from. It’s because of our redemption through Him that we can be white as snow, He commanded the light to shine on and out from us. “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of us, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge and of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6. Our purity, while it is cherished and respected by the people around us, can never be as adored as it is by the One who gave His son that we might achieve it. Protect and be proud of your purity. Don’t let your shield of faith lower, along with your standards and zeal for serving God. Or if you haven’t already, there is no better time than right now to attain purity, to be redeemed and saved by the blood of Jesus. I encourage you to discover the fulfillment and hope that comes from a personal relationship with Someone who loves you and finds you so precious that He gave His only son to die on a cross…just to save YOU; so that you can dwell with Him in heaven for eternity. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” - Matthew 13:45

John 14:23 – “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.”

What Will He Find....

Yeah, it's a tad bit lengthy.... but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less. :) Lots of questions in this one too. :P

---Isaiah 2

“(2) Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the nations shall flow to it.”
This is the beginning of a breathtaking account by Isaiah. What will Jesus find when he comes back? Or, since we know not the hour of His return, what would He find in our hearts RIGHT NOW? The nations will flow to Him, they WILL be humbled before His sight and upon feeling the intensity of Him and His majesty, they will want to be taught by Him. They will hunger just to be near to Him and yearn to simply tread on the same ground that He walks. But – “(4) He shall judge between the nations; and rebuke the peoples.” Again I ask- What would He find in our hearts? Would he find them loyal, pleasing, and passionate for Him or luke-warm, distracted and fat with sin? Would we be ashamed if the Lord was standing before us observing and judging not only our actions but also the condition of our hearts? Verse 10 - “Enter into the rock and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.” I can only imagine the guilty faces in the audience of Isaiah, as he spoke these words and they were reminded of how prevailing God is. I know that I take my relationship with God way to lightly. This is the God who makes men cower at His presence, at the sound of His voice and judgment; yet still we have the audacity to disobey Him, or take his commands lightly.

Job 37:1 – “At this, my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of His voice, to the rumbling that comes from His mouth.”

I love how passionately and honestly Elihu is showing his love for God, here. It’s a deep, deep respect because He is so incredibly powerful. This is the voice that can split a mountain and bring life; yet, it can also speak so gently and lovingly to His children. Elihu was so desperately trying to get Job to look at the “big picture” and give glory, honor and praise to God, even in those terrible circumstances. When do I forget the intensity of those gentle words God may speak to me? -- When I’m with friends and it would seem so much easier to just give into sin, or maybe when God simply wants me to do something that I think looks too difficult? Is it too easy for me to disregard a Voice that can sound so sweet when, really, it comes from the greatest Authority? He deserves SO MUCH MORE than to be on the outskirts of our minds; yet that’s where we tend to put Him! Today, we had a showcase at co-op. One of the girls got up and sang “What Do I Know of Holy.” She had a gorgeous voice, but the lyrics were what gave me chills.

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all, No.
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were might to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know?What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life it's name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above What do I know of this love?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

The first stanza in itself almost brought me to tears. Do I make God “too small” or fear Him as I should? Do I shove His love away in my pride, forgetting how inferior I really am? But, coming back to Isaiah 2, He will “arise to shake the earth mightily,” and “The loftiness of men shall be bowed down. And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Verse 22 says “Stop trusting a man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” Man is so small; yet when we “give in” and live in/become accustomed to sin, we are putting tiny, little man above the great and mighty God in our hearts. A while back, I was studying Psalm 119. In verse 19 David says – “I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide your commandments from me.” We are creations of God; yes, we were created as part of the earth, but not to be in unison with it. After all, He set us apart from everything else by making us in His own likeness. So, if we’re strangers of the earth, why do we act (and believe) as if the world is more comfortable than fellowship with God? A stranger may feel welcomed into an unfamiliar place, but they are almost never as comfortable as they may have been in their home or native place. Do I treat God as if He is the stranger, rather than being a stranger to the world? It’s true, we may need to adopt some of the culture of the world, so that as effective vessels for Him, we can spread truth and word of the Life that comes from Him. But it’s another case of “in but not of.” I want to accept my relationship with God as “original,” and to be so close to God that his presence is effortlessly more inviting and satisfying than anything else. And the thing is, He has made that possible for us. He desires for us to “draw near” to Him so that, in turn, he may draw near to us. It blows my mind that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords wants to be as close as possible to such low and ungrateful souls as ours, but it’s still true. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 27:19 “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals a man.” And as I consider the immensity of His majesty as described in Isaiah 2, how could I even think of ignoring or belittling the relationship I’m allowed to have with God? It’s an issue of pride; pride that will eventually be shattered and exposed for its worthlessness in the day of my judgment, when I stand before God.
One last time I will ask - What will He find in our hearts?

Psalm 19

Another bible journal...I wrote this one a while back, but I just reread it and it was a really good reminder/encouragement to me. Hope it does the same for you. ;)

Psalm 19: (6)7-14

This passage talks about how perfect and fulfilling the word of God is. We can turn to it, meditate on it, like dwelling on the words of friends or loved ones, only these are the words of our creator. And then, commit to them because - how incredible is the reward for that? If only I were to just enjoy the sweetness of these words, I can reap reward in eternity. It goes on about how wonderfully desirable the Judgment of the Lord is. Why? How or when can judgment be sweet and desirable? When it is perfect. P-E-R-F-E-C-T. And when we have every opportunity to not only prove our commitment, but also reap reward from it, what holds us back? It’s that moment that happens every day, ten billion times a day, and we slip up. We depart from God’s word only to taste the bitterness of the world. It gets us down too, because we know it’s wrong. And even though we can’t take those moments lightly, there is a time when we need to just realize the error and work at correcting, rather than dragging it along as yet another failure. That in itself is against Him. Verse 13 – “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of transgression.” If we allow our faults to “have dominion” over us, what good are we being to the Lord? None. God grants us freedom from shame. So, rather than lingering in it for no reason, other than self pity and gratification, we should get off our duff, dust ourselves off, and be proud of our innocence in Him. It’s true, there’s nothing hidden from his judgment (I love the metaphor that David uses in verse 6), but it’s also true that all those things which we want nothing more than to hide away, can actually be purified from us. “Cleansed.” Isn’t that a million times better than trying to bury (unsuccessfully) something all by our lonesome? And then, when we’re all free of that depressingly filthy guilt, we have a choice. Fall back into the same old cycle that we’ve tried over and over and found no satisfaction whatsoever in, OR walk away. Pick up our trash and walk away. By the way, I say “pick up our trash” because of an interpretation I once heard about the lame man at the pool in Bethsaida. After Jesus healed him, he said for the man to pick up his mat and walk. The lady who was teaching us said, “What was Jesus thinking when he said that?” I mean, yeah, OBVIOUSLY this guy who hasn’t walked in thirty some years is going to be really concerned about picking up his stupid mat before running off to rejoice. My point? Don’t litter. A lot of times, in our mistakes we leave a trail of destruction behind us and there are times when we really need to go back and clean up, patch up whatever destruction we’ve caused. Doing so, not in our own power, but in God and His righteousness. After that’s all said and done, and we make that oh-so-obvious yet excruciatingly hard choice (hopefully to walk away), then we can take comfort in the words of verse 8: “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Hear that? It’s reason to rejoice. WE CAN REJOICE in a lifestyle that’s really devoted to God. We can live happily in our decision to follow His commandments. That really does seem hard to accept at first doesn’t it? It is for me anyways, because a godly lifestyle, for some odd reason, is never looked on in a content or happy light. It’s hard to face the world as they tell us how “boring” our life is in comparison to theirs. And wouldn’t you know it, WE BELIEVE THEM! *gasp* Why? The truth is, there is NO satisfaction in anything other than God and righteousness (see Psalm 17:15, it’s good stuff ;). So, in everything I say and do, am I glorifying God? Am I righteous in what I do? At this point, I definitely know the answer to that is a big fat “NO,” but I also see how depressed and distressed my life is because of it. Finally, in verse 14, it says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” That’s what I desire, with my whole heart. I’ve come to this choice before, and as much as I’d like to think differently, I know I’ll probably be back again, but I’ve made my decision...

Psalm 20:8 – “They have bowed and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright.”

Some thoughts...

Well, one of the reasons that I started this blog is that a friend thought it would be a good place for me to publish some of my bible journals. Every once in a while, I write one that I just feel could or should be shared. So...I've been in proverbs for the past week. Here are some thoughts from chapter 16:

Proverbs 16: 2, 3 & 8,9, 15
(3)”Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”
In verse 8, it describes how little heed we take to the things we do day to day; yet they are, every single one, weighed and judged by the Lord. This passage happens to go along very nicely with the study we had on Friday night and the issue of what we consider as “big” sins vs. “little” sins. Each and every deed we do, every task we perform is placed at the feet of God. Do I treat them as such? Not really. NIV translation says that our ways seem “innocent” to our own eyes. But as we sit in our oblivious sate, God takes personally every task performed for His glory and honor. Likewise, He feels every crime committed against Him and the sacrifice He made for us. As this “all things considered” theme carries on in the chapter, verse 9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Yes, we are given free will, I believe that; but how insolent and brazen are we to think that He doesn’t have a hand in not only the direction we go, but also the steps we take to move in that direction.
In literature class, I ran across an essay by Jean Jaques Rousseau. Although it was painfully hard to read in the beginning, the truth in his words eventually demanded my attention. This man never once professes to be a Christian, but you can see that he quite clearly understood some amazing principles. First, how can we even begin to doubt that there is a creator, or a divine being who controls all? For a human being to simply draw breath expresses evidence that someone must have created the earth and all its contents. To breathe, a man fills his lungs with air, how can he do this without energy? The action requires energy, where does that energy come from? If the energy comes from a process and an outside source, what started that process or that outside source? This chain goes on and on until there is no possible answer as to how one simply breathes than that it is divinely given. The same, Rousseau continued, applies to intellect. Where can knowledge have come from? Humans are, unarguably superior on earth in the aspect that they contain a soul and possess the ability to reason. Where did that ability and knowledge originate from? And, on a side note, why oh why would we ever possibly desire to be compared to anything less (concerning our superiority on earth), as evolutionists want us to?
We try to plot our own direction, without realizing our humbling state. Not that making plans is a bad thing; it’s an excellent thing that, as God smiles down on those plans, we can place hope in them. But sometimes, either our plans don’t really please Him (the only one that matters) or we run headlong into them without remembering the great and mighty power that allows us to run. Verse 15 continues a description of what pleases a king and “when a king’s face brightens, it means life, his favor is like a rain cloud in the spring.” Hopes, dreams, plans, and goals that are founded on the will of God are going to be fruitful. Think about the spring weather and the fresh, crisp green that is released from the foliage by the rivers of water pouring from the sky- that’s how effective and yielding lives with a purpose of pleasing God are. When we brighten our King’s face, we’re not just helping ourselves; we’re helping those around us. After the rain (makes me think of air freshener :P), the birds sing for joy; the vegetation beams bright and invigorated; everything somehow seems to have gained new strength, and so can we also be with our friends and family. While we walk closer to God, His love is more likely to spread, infectiously, from us into their lives. And, to put a “green” spin on things, don’t you think that God also cares about the way in which we treat the splendor he created around us? So, His love extends not only to His children but also to their current dwelling place and we should work to respect and culture that in our hearts and ways.