Pure? But I feel so dirty. (Part 2)

Since God calls us pure, and we can’t oppose it (see our conversation yesterday: Part 1) then a deeper question swells. How does He call us pure, and how do we feel it?

As we stay connected to Rahab, I mentioned yesterday that she and her family were kept outside the camp for a prescribed time because they were “unclean” according to God’s laws. On this side of the Cross, we go from unclean to clean with salvation. And we are never allowed to call ourselves unclean again. All our impurities were laid on Jesus. Isaiah explained this as he described Jesus, the suffering Servant to come.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)

While we were astray, going our own way, Jesus took on, wore, and became our impure sin. And, according to the truth in 2 Corinthians 5:21, when Jesus became sin for us, we became the righteousness of God. There is no unclean, impure, stained thing in the righteousness of God. So while Rahab had to wait outside the camp for a time under the old rules, that is not for you and me. We have been declared clean, and if God says it, then who are we to think we can oppose it?

You might ask, “How can God just call something pure? He just says it and that’s it? It seems too easy. I don’t know if I can just accept that. ‘God, do you know how bad my sin is?’” That was my cry, my concern, and the slippery sides of the pit I was trying to climb out of in my own strength. He reveals to us in Isaiah 53 that for Jesus, our purification was not easy. It was costly. It cost His torturous death on the cross. It took God’s strength to conquer death and raise Jesus out of the grave. (Isa. 40:10; 51:5; 53:1, 4-6; 59:16) God, being the truest of true, has no hesitation or trouble declaring truth. In fact that’s the only language He speaks. Because through Christ it is so very true, He can “easily” say, “You are pure.”

When we find out it’s as simple as the Gospel, sometimes we have trouble with that. Oh, in our heads we know it's right, but in our souls we silently struggle. Some of us think there has to be some sort of long journey of hard lessons and spiritual hard labor that earns us the heavenly title of pure.

Haven't we have labored under our own efforts long enough? Can we see where that got us? How many times have we stood looking in the mirror after a memory of sexual sin rushes through our minds and feeling the weight of our own uncleanness, trying hard to shake that feeling, or perhaps fully indulging it? Have you found yourself pierced, crushed, applying personal punishment, struggling with gaping wounds, the weight of sin heaped on you?

And yet, Jesus took all of that for us.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Do you believe that Jesus endured the hardest labor, the greatest humiliation, the worst bodily torture, the most vast separation and abandonment by the Father, and rose again? Do you believe then that we could do anything better or farther to be made and called pure?

What He explains in 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 brings together called pure and believing you’re pure so you can live pure. Read it with me.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

According to these verses, what or who did He choose?

Do you notice He doesn’t state what comes after the word “not”? I love that! He chose the things that were not pure and not clean. He chooses Rahabs like you and me to show off that He knows best what to call things, and how to make the “things that are not” the things they actually are in His eyes. And He can, because we are in Christ.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, Who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

All of those things are pure. All of those things are you.

Is there blame or shame talk happening in your head which calls you impure or unclean? If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, then you have new strong words to refute that.

God says I am not allowed to call anything unclean or impure that has been made clean. In Christ, I have been made righteous, holy, and has been redeemed. That means clean and pure forever. There is no opposing God on this. I am pure.

Whenever accusations of “unclean” or “impure” come into your head or heart, you stand firm in Christ on this truth. When you put Truth over feelings again and again, you will silence the old feelings and begin to live—and feel—as you really are.

Pure.

Just another seed of my faith,

Ginny

Pure? But I feel so dirty. (Part 1)

Can I really be “pure” when I feel so dirty?

This was one of the biggest questions that lingered in my own soul for years on my healing journey. Before I was walking with Christ, the idea of being pure was something I had wrecked or something I rolled my eyes at—that was for “good girls.” After He rescued me, this question echoed inside me. While I could say I was rescued, I didn't feel like pure was a word that could be applied to me. 

Since we've been tracking with Rahab’s story, it’s fair to tell you that this truth grabbed hold of me in Joshua 6:22-25. While she and her family were lead out of the rubble of Jericho, and were ushered into lives of wholeness there’s this strange pause. She and her family were placed “outside the camp.” They were Canaanites and they had lived lives that God had warned His people against. According to the laws God had given, they were “unclean.” While this may seem exclusive to us or even seem harsh or unfair after her great show of faith in God, I believe there is something here for us. It’s gloriously connected to a wild story that spans Acts 10-11. 

Peter was struggling with his old life. He wanted to embrace his new story and live in the freedom Christ had purchased for him, but he was conflicted. He had a hard time living consistently, radically free. His issue: Jewish laws about food.  His deeper issue: calling something pure. His even deeper issue: believing it’s pure and living freely in that truth. 

God showed up and through a series of vivid images said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." (Acts 10:15)
According to this verse, who makes and declares things clean?
Are clean things allowed to be called impure?

As Peter retold this incredible, freeing experience to a group of friends that had been “outside the camp”—non-Jews who had become followers of Christ--he added a heart layer to what God had shown him. “But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28) The deepest issue: calling people pure.

Peter closed the old story to embrace the new life God had for him by saying this, “If they've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, [and He has made and called them pure], and for certain this is true, who was I to think I could oppose God?” (Acts 11:17, my paraphrase) 

When we don’t know that God has called us pure, we can feel torn or stuck like Peter. We want to embrace living beyond our pasts and leaving behind those old feelings of sin or shame—the dirty feeling—but we aren't sure what that means or if we even can.

When our deepest issue is believing God has called us pure, we can run into more shame or even sin.
The shame script that plays in our heads and hearts can be that we feel like we have to live outside the camp forever, watching others go into freedom, into faith community, and they get to be and feel pure. “But not so fast Rahab. Not you.” Somehow, in the midst of our desire to be free of our pasts, Satan has injected a lie that says, “You can be rescued, but you can’t be restored. And more than that you can’t be free. You won’t feel pure because you aren't pure. So, this far in living beyond your past and no farther.” And then he invites us to blame anyone but him for this lie coursing through our souls. We blame ourselves with every memory, dream, temptation, and old story that pops into your head. We may quietly, lamely begin to blame God for not making us feel more pure or totally free, and we may question His power or His love for us.

Sometimes this can lead us to temptation. We are tempted to be jealous of others that look so free and pure. We are tempted to despise, dismiss, or even reject them for seeming on the outside the way we long to be on the inside. And it leads to bitterness in our hearts. 

If I can press into this a bit further, some of us may even blame the Church. We might say at times that we don’t want to be judged, so we won’t go there. Don’t get me wrong, I know the brokenness of people in the Church means that we can hurt one another. I've watched a well-meaning woman practically hand another woman a proverbial scarlet letter and let her know it suited her well (a story for another day). But I've been the woman that rejected the Church because I didn't want to be judged. In reality, I didn't want to be exposed for not feeling as pure as they seemed. I wasn't satisfied living outside the camp and feeling unclean. I wanted to be pure. I had no idea God said I was. 

I wonder if you didn't even know God has called you pure. 
I wonder if it’s news to you that you might be going against God’s way for you by not believing that what He has called pure, you can’t call dirty. 
The ache of our hearts and the lie of the enemy has been exposed. 

Now you know. Now you want to believe which means live it. So, how has God called you pure? Is it just that easy? 
Come find out tomorrow. 

But in the meantime, get ready to leave the fringe of the camp. There’s more to His story in you than just the rescue. That was just the start!

Just another seed of my faith,
Ginny