There is a popular weekly podcast out of the UK called “Unbelievable,” which often has Christians and non-Christians debating one another. One episode last year focussed on the attitudes that Christians and atheists have towards one another. Both the Christian and non-Christian guest were arguing for more civility. They were calling for both sides to actually listen to each other.

The moderator/host commented on how, judging by listeners’ re­sponses, civil conversations tend not to rate as highly as out and out battles. The more heated things would get, the more likely people were to write in with their thoughts and reactions.

Conflict sells, doesn’t it?

Now of course, when it comes to Christians and atheists arguing with one another, I know which side I’m cheering for.

It’s easy to get riled up listening to the specious arguments of the opposition. Mind you, it also happens sometimes that the Christian side advocates bad ideas or false teachings, which brings about a different kind of frustration.

Sometimes my negative reactions may very well be a righteous response to falsehood and lies.

But I have to be careful that I do not react out of self-righteousness, trying to elevate myself in my own mind, while denigrating others.

The atheist and the mistaken Christian are both, in fact, our neighbours. We are to demon­strate an attitude of love and hospitality to them. Of course, we do not compromise the truth. But the truth we advocate calls us to live in peace with them, insofar as it is possible with us.

Impure Reactions⤒🔗

To put it another way, we are to demonstrate purity in how we respond to those around us, even those who are very impure in their thinking, and often impure in their attitude toward us.

If they are impure in their reac­tions to us, if they demonstrate impure hostility toward our faith, it shouldn’t be because we were im­pure in how we treated them.

This is hard, isn’t it? It’s hard because the unbelieving world often forces its dogmas down our throats. It confronts us with its biblical ideology, its pagan world and life view, its moral degradation. It’s hard not to respond with self-righteous indignation, with the idea that we are smart while they are dumb, we are holy while they are scum.

And truth to be told, we like our impure thoughts, our impure reactions. We like to elevate ourselves while denigrating others. We also like to wallow in self-pity, lamenting how hard we have it as Christians living in a post-Christian society.

It’s also very possible that when confronted by the impurity of the world, we might be enticed by that impurity. For instance, we don’t really mind the impure pictures of scantily clad models that you just can’t get away from in the local mall. Or we’re fascinated by the impure violence that pervades so much of contemporary entertainment.

But remember Philippians 4:8 — “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”

Meditating on Purity←⤒🔗

We are to meditate on whatever things are pure, pure referring here to being free from moral stain.

Paul is calling on his Philippians readers to meditate on the kind of purity that James was speaking of in James 4:7-8 — “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Pure hearts, not stained by the dirt of impure moral thoughts and behaviours, that is what James was looking for. Pure hearts are called to meditate on pure things, holy things, godly behaviours, righteous thinking, good living, as the Bible defines good according to the will of God.

But here’s the thing: we’re not going to stop being confronted with the world’s impurity. So what do we do? We need to respond to that impurity by using it as an opportunity to meditate on, focus on, that which is pure.

For example, perhaps you’ve heard about the internet website “Ashley Madison.” Its motto told us everything we needed to know: “Life is short, have an af­fair.” Last year its membership database was hacked. The names of people who signed up with this website were exposed. No surprise, the vast, vast major­ity of names were of men.

Sadly, many church members, including leaders, were discov­ered to have subscribed to this service. It was a cause for much grief. Grief not about the hacking, but grief caused by those foolish enough to think that their sin in this matter would not eventually be exposed.

Thinking about purity when we hear stories like this does not mean we cover our ears, close our eyes, and try to fill our minds with happy thoughts about uni­corns and rainbows. Rather, a story like this can remind us to focus our hearts and our minds on the purity of biblical wisdom, and on the purity of marital fidelity. It can even be the cause, where sin has been exposed, for meditating on the purity of godly repentance, and hopefully, some­how, the purity of restoration.

Living Out Purity←⤒🔗

So, we are to meditate on, think about, that which is pure. And even the impurity of this world can pro­vide opportunities for doing so.

But not only are we to meditate on that which is pure, think about that which is morally upright, but we also are to do it.

As 1 John 3:3 tells us, “and eve­ryone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

The idea here is not that by the very act of having hope, we are purifying ourselves. Rather, because we have hope in Christ, we purify ourselves. Because we know what Christ has done for us, and because we look forward to his return, in response to this we seek to live lives that are as pure as possible.

We should always seek to be more and more free from moral impurity, always seeking to do the good as God defines it, always striving more and more to do his will as he lays it out for us in Scripture.

Of course, we know that when it comes right down to it, we are powerless to purify ourselves. We know that if it were left up to us, we would be incapable of patterning our thinking and behaviour according to the pure standards of God’s word. We would want to do what is right in our own eyes, and our own eyes are much more attracted to impurity.

We desperately need the blood of Christ to wash us clean. Apart from Christ, apart from what he has done for us, dying on the cross, bearing the punishment for our sins, winning for us forgiveness of sins, accomplishing our salvation, apart from Christ and his work, we could never hope to purify ourselves.

First and foremost, it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us. Only in him, only in being joined to him, only having his Spirit live in us, can we ever hope to be purified. And only in him, can we ever hope to have the new life that enables us to seek after purity. Only as those who be­long to him can we pursue holiness.

But as those who do belong to him, as those who trust in him, we do then go on to pursue holiness. We are actively engaged in the effort to purify ourselves. Not that we think we can somehow wash away our own sins. We wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to imagine that we can force God to love us, because we’ve done such a great job of being pure. But we seek to purify ourselves out of thankfulness for all that God has done for us in and through our Lord and savior.

How do we do this? We repent.

That shouldn’t be such a hard concept, right? We repent by acknowledging our sin and guilt, and by pursuing that which is good. We repent, by laying aside our sin, and doing that which we know God ex­pects of us. We repent, by fleeing from wickedness, and fleeing to holiness.

What does this mean? It means focussing on that which is edifying, which builds us up, rather than that which we know is ultimately rubbish.

Purity In, Purity Out←⤒🔗

There’s an old saying in the programming business: garbage in, garbage out. When we take in impurity, that’s what’s going to come out.

To illustrate this, we have a rather nice coffee maker at our house, a home version of the kind of machines you find at cafes. It makes a great cappuccino.

Mind you, our relationship with this machine got off to a rocky start. Apparently our tap water has certain impurities in it. Our coffee machine is sensitive enough that those impu­rities caused it to break down soon after we got it. We needed to have it repaired.

We started using only the purest water that’s sold in grocery stores, and it’s been working great ever since. (Feel free to stop by for a visit if you want to test this claim.)

You take in that which is morally impure, and your soul is going to get clogged up with all that impurity. You take in that which is pure, and things are run more smoothly for you, spiritually speaking. Why wouldn’t we then want to purify ourselves the best we can?

Take in that which is pure. Take in the Word of God and its teachings. Talk about those teachings with one another. Do what you can to learn more about those teachings. Do what you can to cultivate in yourself a perspective on life that is centred on Jesus Christ, having him as the most important person in your life.

In this life, we will never be sinless like him. But we do have his sinlessness credited to us. Christ’s perfect righteousness, his perfect purity, God looks at us and sees that purity.

And if that is who we are, if we are people who have the status of being those who are credited with the righteousness of Christ, then we are going to want to do the best we can to live in a way that is consistent with that status.

And if that isn’t enough motivation, think about this as well: 1 John 3:3 speaks about those who have this hope purifying them­selves. The hope that he refers to is the hope of knowing that Jesus Christ will return. It will be clear to everyone that he is Lord. It will be revealed to all that he is Lord over all. We will see him as he is. And at that time, we shall be trans­formed to be like him.

And rather than waiting until that time, thinking that, well, since we will be made pure then, we may as well be impure now; rather than thinking like that, we realize what a beautiful thing it is that awaits us, and we want to do all that we can even now to live our lives in a way that is consistent with that pattern of beauty. The purity that awaits us is something we want to experience is much as we can right here, right now.

You have a pure hope. Live out that hope. Live for purity. Meditate on that purity. Rejoice in that purity. And know that it will be yours forever, because of the purity and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.