Keeping the Vessel Clean - Martin Wiles

If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21 NLT

Keeping silver clean is no easy job.

As one-time antique dealers—and as recipients of my mother’s silver--my wife and I know a little about silver. One, it’s valuable, and two, keeping it clean is challenging. Before my mother gave us her silver flatware set, she would sit for hours, shining each piece until she could see her reflection in the forks, spoons, and butter knives. Then she separated the various utensils and placed them in a plastic bag where air could not touch them. So far, we have kept them in the same zip lock bags she placed them in. We know if we expose the set to air, we’ll soon have to repeat what she did before she gave them to us.

We’ve also owned silver tea sets, which we displayed on antique buffets. When shined, they made an attractive addition to our antique furniture. But after a short period, tarnish crept over each piece. We either had to polish them and put them away or leave them out and shine them every few months. Leaving them out and tarnished wasn’t a choice. Doing so ruined the look of our décor.

God requires purity to use us. Exposing silver to air means it will turn and eventually require cleaning. Living in the world exposes us to sin, whether we want it to or not. Even monks and nuns who withdraw from everyday life and environments still face the inner pull of sin. Cleaning silver can be challenging. So can keeping ourselves pure and holy.

Maintaining purity is easier when we recognize that we possess an inner power that enables us to be successful—the Spirit of God within us. Holiness is not something we can accomplish on our own, but it is possible when we allow God to perform it in us.

Just as silver exposed to air requires regular cleaning, so does maintaining holiness. If we neglect tending to holy living, the tarnish of sin will take over. But if we spend time in spiritual disciplines and make obeying God’s commands a priority, our vessels will remain pure.

Do whatever it takes to keep your vessel clean.

Father, I depend on your Spirit’s power to help me keep my vessel pure so I can be ready to be used by you. 

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Filtered for Purity - Martin Wiles

But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. Daniel 1:8 NLT

The difference between using one and not using one often means contamination, days off the trail, and painful diarrhea.

I met him on a guided hike. He was the first person I’d ever talked to who had thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. I had questions, and he had answers. But one story rose above the rest: his bout with giardia. Trail angels had left fresh fruit in a stream by one of the AT shelters. Hunger for more than trail food consumed him. He grabbed the fruit, sunk his teeth into it, and soon regretted his decision. He lost two days of walking, sick from contaminated water.

Never have I drunk from an unfiltered water source. Generally, I use a PUR water filter which guarantees to remove ninety-nine percent of germs. Fortunately, I’ve never suffered from giardia. Purity is important.

Purity was on Daniel’s mind. He was among the first of the exiles to experience deportation to Babylon—a subject of foreign invaders who worshiped pagan gods and read pagan literature. But Daniel stood out, along with his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The king chose them to serve him, but they first needed preparation—which included eating the king’s food and drinking his wine. A practice that would defile Daniel according to Jewish laws. He offered a suggestion. He and his friends wanted to try vegetables and water. At the end of ten days, they looked healthier than those eating the king’s food.

The believer’s body is a temple of God’s Spirit. He lives there permanently and continuously. What I put into my body affects Him. But it’s not the food I eat or the liquids I drink—although they may affect my physical condition. Contamination is more about my thoughts, actions, and words.

Remaining pure means thinking on what is true, just, righteous, noble, kind, uplifting, honorable, and lovely. My thoughts lead to actions, which will be pure or impure depending on what I think on. Actions reflect my character. Through them, people see the real me. And the real me means more than the words I speak.

Nietzsche, the atheistic philosopher who proclaimed God was dead, said of Christians; “I will believe in the Redeemer of the Christians when they act like they are redeemed.”

God is holy, makes His children holy in position, and expects us to be pure in our lifestyles. 

Commit to a pure lifestyle.

Tweetable: Are you pursuing purity? 

Prayer: Father, enable us to live pure lives as good representatives of the pure God we serve. 

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As Pure as Water - Martin Wiles

But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Habakkuk 1:13 NLT

With most of the world’s rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans too polluted to safely drink from without purification, we were looking at one that was 98% pure.

While on vacation, my wife and I visited Forbidden Caverns near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. As we descended more than 300 feet to the lowest point of our tour, we saw flowing water. A river that came from somewhere high above and snaked through cracks and openings in the cavern to flow into the bowels of the earth. Looking at the water, I could tell it was different. Moonshiners and Native Americans once used it to ply their trade and survive in the wild. And without harm. Our guide told us why. The water was 98% pure. One could drink it without risk of harm—no need for filtration. 

God’s purity is greater than the cavern water. Throughout all 66 books of the Bible, God is proclaimed as pure—100 percent. Pagan gods were untrustworthy and not always after the best interests of their followers, but the God of Israel was different. No iota of evil attaches itself to His character, and He expects His followers to adhere to the same code of conduct. Trouble is, I’m not pure. Nor can I be by my own power. 

Polluted water can be made drinkable by filtration. While hiking and backpacking, I’ve drunk from many questionable water sources, but I protected myself by filtering the water. 

When it comes to my nature, I can’t do anything to make it pure. 

I can try turning over new leaves—and I may do well temporarily, but I can’t make myself good permanently. Bad attitudes, foul language, greedy thoughts, and lustful looking will creep in. 

God must have known He was requiring something I wasn’t capable of since He sent His pure Son to do for humanity what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

When I accept what Christ did on Calvary’s cross, I’m given His righteousness—His purity. 

God considers my sin debt paid, not because I paid it but because His Son paid it for me. I’ve been filtered by the blood of Christ and made 100% pure.  

Don’t try to be good so God will accept you; accept God and let Him change your nature.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. 

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