Purity

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Why is that? I was searching the scriptures and came upon a passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. I am going to zero in on verse 7 & 8 which are---"For God has not called us to impurity, but to consecration, [dedicating ourselves to the most thorough purity]. Therefore whoever disregards this disregards not man but God whose very Spirit He gives to you is holy chaste and pure."
I think that if I wanted to pour water in a glass, I would make sure it was clean. Its not that is would be unusable as a glass—even if it were lined with excrement it would still be a glass that could be utilized as a glass. Is it desirable? No way. Do I want the nasty bacteria in my body that could make me sick---or the nasty flavor in my mouth as I drink it? Nope. But it is still a glass and can be used as such. We are like that glass. God calls us to purity b/c it keeps us clean so when He pours the water of His Holy Spirit in us, we can pour it out uncontaminated upon others for their refreshment. If we are contaminated, we contaminate others. No getting around that one. This is why it is so very important for us to dedicate ourselves to a thorough purity. God wants a clean vessel so He is represented properly. The word pure means not mixed with anything especially that which is dirty or less valuable. It means free from anything contaminating. Our nature itself is contaminated by sin, handed down to us by Adam and Eve, but when Jesus came as the second Adam, He put things back spiritually the way they were before the fall. We then became able to identify the contamination of sin, confess it, repent of it, and become free from its power and influence. Purity is attainable through the blood of Jesus or God would not have called us to it. We have free will and can decide if we are going to put any effort towards purifying and cleansing our mind, heart and soul, but the scripture is clear when it says if we disregard this mandate of personal purity that we are going directly against God. Disregard simply means to ignore or neglect. We can ignore God's calling of purity by simply not paying attention to it in such a way that there isn't much of a difference in how we live our lives from the way those in the world do. There should be a noticeable difference in us, people! Not in a self-righteous way, but in a righteous way----a way that allows us to be in the world without being of the world. I think we get way to comfortable with this short life we have here on earth thinking it is everything there is, but that is a lie sent to seduce us from the best life God has waiting for us. Eternity is forever. This life is but a moment, and we live it like it is all there is. I don't know about you, but I want to SEE God. That takes a pure heart and means I have to be proactive and actually dedicate myself to keeping my mind, soul and heart CLEAN. It's not just gonna happen to us. I never saw a dish in my sink wash itself…..we have to do something. You don't get paid at work if you don't work. We cannot expect God's purity to suddenly overtake us. No, we have to commit, devote and set ourselves apart---that's what the word dedicate means. When we devote ourselves to a task, we are all consumed by it---it has our full attention. We need to give the call to purity by Almighty God Himself our full attention.
more later……….V