To the pure [in heart and conscience] all things are pure, but
to the defiled and corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and
consciences are defiled and polluted. -Titus 1:15 Amplified Bible
This is the innocence God is. This is also the innocence God created us to be. This is also the innocence God has redeemed us to. This is the innocence He's restoring in us. Making us as pure and vulnerable as a lily from the inside out. And we are vulnerable because we are among thorns. Our thorny flesh. Our thorny world. Our thorny relationships. Our thorny enemy.
But this is the innocence the blood of Jesus purchased for us. This is the way God always intended it to be for us. Innocence for God is not something to grow past. Innocence is not going from puppy love to mature love. Innocence is not missing out on fun. Innocence is ruined by knowing anything that is not good. Innocence is murdered by eating the knowledge of good AND evil.
We so often think of purity as something you only have as a child. And a dirtying of purity we accept as the way life goes. We grow up. We get dirty. We mature. We figure out there's more to life than virginity and innocence. But to God purity is not a doormat to be stepped on, and used to wipe off our filthy feet. It's not just a place we touch once to move up to a more "sophisticated" way of living. Purity is the ecstasy of "all things new" that God would have us continually live in. In purity, in innocence, nothing gets old or tired or boring. In purity all of life is a garden to be explored and tasted of, cultivated and multiplied. Living in purity means knowing only good.
But since we live in a world and in a body of knowledge of good and evil, this purity God has redeemed for us is like a lily among thorns. It's vulnerable to pain. But what's so awesome is that pain cannot destroy purity. Even death cannot destroy it. For Jesus is the Lily of the Valley who rose from the dead and lives in us as a lily among thorns.
I am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the
valleys. Song of Solomon 2:1
Let us not shrink back from pain, or rejection, or even death, thinking it is to the destruction of our newly-made pure hearts. For it is not in knowing good and experiencing pain that our purity is marred. It is only in choosing to know good and evil that we are destroyed.
Let me not think with the mind of "street-smarts." Let me not be wise to the things and thinking of this world. Let me seem as a fool, as naive, as totally innocent to what the world says is natural though it is not natural, it is perverted and twisted and contagiously spreading death.
Let me think only with that pure mind I've been given as Christ lives in me and I live in Him. With that mind, amidst everything the world says is natural, I can see past the twisted thorns to the innocent lily God created it to be.
Like a lily among thorns, So is my love among the
daughters. Song of Solomon 2:2
To the world all that is twisted and perverted and contagiously spreading death is natural.
To my new mind (which only knows good and not evil) the only natural thing is the lily among all those mangled thorns.
***Related: A Lily Among Thorns
I've been thinking about this verse lately, "to the pure all things are pure; to those who are defiled, unbelieving, nothing is pure." ... It is so true.
ReplyDeleteIf we are critical, we project that onto other people and assume that they are critical of us. I have a couple of extended family members who seem to consistently sneak around and try to project an "image" that is very different than reality... it surprised me to learn that they thought I had hidden motivations for my recent trip to Texas. They kept asking, "so you really did just come for a visit?" Yes! That's what I said I came for!!! But to them, there had to be some sneaky reason... to those who have hidden motivations, all things are done for hidden motivations, I guess.
Anyway, I've just been thinking on that verse and how much it reflects on our nature to assume that others are just as we ourselves are.
Jess- so true! I could really identify with what you said, for I have been one of those who have hidden motivations and who assume all things are done for hidden motivations. But increasingly the new life in me is growing strong, exposing all this defiled thinking in me and increasing my desire to think purely, innocently, even though I've been so used to "feeling" more safe in my thorny thinking. I see more and more the distinct difference between thinking with a pure mind (the mind of Christ) and thinking with twisted mind. What is twisted I've lived most of my life thinking is being "insightful" or wise or street-smart.
ReplyDeleteI'm just gonna keep meditating on this verse and letting it expose my impure ways so that I can increasingly walk in the glory of purity!
thanks for sharing your thoughts
Sheila
Thanks for the encouragement. As I write this Elyssa is screaming in pain and there is nothing I can do to take it away. I am in the midst of a new season with the Lord--learning to trust Him an ALL things. And clinging to His sufficiency...
ReplyDelete