PURITY

There is a spur on the 11,239 ft. Mount Hood where a small rock shelter stands firm against the winds of time. Atop this small ridge is a spectacular view of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, hundreds of square miles of valleys, streams, lakes, and hills carpeted with green forests. I love the high ground. There are few things in life more beautiful than standing in thin air to watch the sun rise in silent majesty over a glacier-covered volcano and all that surrounds it. It is not hard to understand why Oregon and Washington are called “God’s country.”

Meditation

Psalm 19:9—The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.

King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:18,19, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” Was it from his chariot on the heights of Jerusalem that he followed shafts of sunlight as they worked their way across the Kidron valley and formed an illustration in his mind?

The longer one travels the highway of morality, the clearer the way becomes. Righteousness refuses to wind in the confusing circles of rationalism. Virtue understands and avoids the eroding torrents of carnality. Probity bypasses depravity’s boulders.

The Heavenly Father shines forth His holiness as the foundation of the moral road. He projects His truth through His word. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psa. 119:105) God recognized our immoral condition, and in the deepest of love, He sacrificed His Son to enable us to abandon the hopeless farrago of sin and its freeway to hell. But who of us sees Jesus? He is no longer here on earth. So the One Who once stated, “I am the Light of the world,” enlightened His own followers. “You are the light of the world . . . Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mat. 5:14,16)

If we neglect to be moral people, we extinguish our light. This means we are not only involved in darkness, but we are also depriving those already stumbling of our holy beams. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:24,25). Yes, morality matters. The higher we climb the better we see the way.

Inspiration

Purity is too deep for me to get to naturally.—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest

Purity is not a question of doing things rightly, but of the doer on the inside being right . . . No man is born pure: purity is the outcome of conflict. The pure man is not the man who has never been tried, but the man who knows what evil is and has overcome it.—Oswald Chambers in Studies on the Sermon on the Mount