What is a pure life?  What does it mean to be pure?

In our time, purity is not something that is widely seen.  Our ecosystem, our culture, our life-style, our beliefs have endured so much alteration , infiltration, and contamination that, for the most part, few things still exist in their pure form.

That is why we have endured so much grief and turmoil in our society, because things don't work right when their purity is lost.  God arranged the entire universe in perfect order, everything from extremely minute to extremely immense all working in perfect balance.  But whenever that divine design is altered, disturbance and disorder are inevitable.

What does purity look like?

By English definition, purity is "the quality or condition of being free from any adulterating or corrupting elements; free from anything that taints, impairs, infects; free from defects or defilement;  freedom from mixture."

Freedom from mixture.  That is the bottom line.  Purity is the quality of not being mixed with anything else.  It is full strength.  It has not been diluted.  It has not been added to or taken away from.  It's not artificial.  It's not an imitation.    It's pure.

Jesus referenced this concept when He taught His disciples about faith.  The apostles had said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."  His reply to them was - "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."  [Luke 17.6]

Why did He compare faith to a mustard seed?  Was He perhaps pointing out that even faith so small like a seed can accomplish big things?  That could be a part of it.  But it appears that His choice of comparison was the mustard seed because of the special genetic makeup of this particular plant.  A mustard plant can't be cross-pollinated with anything else.  It can't be changed.

With this in mind, Jesus was saying - If you have faith that CANNOT BE CHANGED... if you have faith that IS NOT MIXED WITH ANYTHING ELSE...    you can speak to this tree and it will obey you.

Faith must be unchanging and unmixed with anything else.  We see this backed up throughout the Scriptures.  If our faith becomes tainted or mixed with unbelief, it won't work.  If our faith gets polluted with unforgiveness, it ceases to produce results.  But when our faith (our trust and confidence in God) is pure, in perfect balance with love and hope, NOTHING is impossible.

It is the same way with love.  I John 4.18 says "there is no fear in love, but full-grown, complete love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror."   Love can't be mixed with anything else.  It repels the slightest trace of fear and terror.  It won't mix with selfishness, lust, greed or pride.  Love is pure.  It's unmixed.

This is barely the beginning of what God has to say concerning His ordinances for things to be pure and unmixed with anything that taints or alters or defiles.  We could have a discussion for days about fibers that aren't to be mixed, foods that aren't to be combined or genetically altered, animals that aren't to be crossbred - and the list continues.   But for right now, let's focus on what God said about us being pure and unmixed.

In Romans 12.1-2, Paul said - "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God... And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD.  Don't be mixed with the world's ideals, lifestyles, and mindset.

The Message translation says - "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit right into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You'll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

We're not to be mixed with or patterned after the world.  We're not to become so well-adjusted to our culture that we just blend right in with everybody else.

No, we're to be like Jesus.  And Jesus never fit into the culture of this world.  Speaking to the religious leaders, Jesus said - "You are from beneath;  I am from above.  You are of this world;  I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD."  (John 8.23)

Not of this world.  We are not of this world just as Jesus was not of this world.  We're in this world, but we are not of it.  We're not to talk like the world talks, we're not to think like the world thinks, or live like the world lives, or do what the world does.

Well, if we're not of this world, why are we here?

Again, Jesus said - "Let Me tell you why you are here.  You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth.  If you lose your saltiness, HOW WILL PEOPLE TASTE GODLINESS?"   (Matthew 5.13 MSG)

How will people taste godliness if they don't taste it through us?  Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth.  Our saltiness is the holiness in our life.

Salt, common as it seems, is a very important subject with God.  Concerning sacrifices, Leviticus 2.13 tells us to "season every presentation of your Grain-offering with salt.  Don't leave the salt of the covenant with your God out of your Grain-offerings.  In fact, present ALL your offerings with salt."

Beyond use as a seasoning, salt possesses purifying, perpetuating, and antiseptic qualities.  Because of these qualities, "salt" became emblematic of fidelity.

One commentator explained - "In Scripture, salt is an emblem of the covenant between God and His people.  Every meal offering was to contain salt, and it was to be offered with all offerings presented by Israelites, as emblematic of the holiness of Christ and betokening the reconciliation provided for man by God on the grounds of the death of Christ. [Numbers 18.19] "

II Kings 2.19-22 recounts the first miracle that was performed by Elisha the prophet.  The men of Jericho came to Elisha and begged him, "Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees;  but the water is bad and the ground barren." 

In response, Elisha asked them to bring him a new bowl filled with SALT.   So they brought it to him.  Verse 21-22 says, "Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, ‘Thus says the Lord:  I have healed this water;  from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.'  So the water remains healed to this day according to the word of Elisha which he spoke."

The marginal reference of the word "healed" in verse 21 is purified.  The Lord said, "I have purified this water..."

Well, was this a miracle or was it just the natural act of putting salt in the water that made it pure?

I believe it was actually both - the supernatural and the natural working in divine synergy in response to the Word of God.  But more than that, I believe it further attests to the correlation God is putting forth between "salt" and "purity". 

The beautiful thing about the word of God is that it is extremely consistent.  When He makes a point, introduces a concept, He doesn't jump around and change the meaning or application of what He's said.  So when ever He talks about salt, it almost always references purity, holiness, and in many cases, fruitfulness.

In Mark 9.49-50, Jesus said - "Everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.  Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavour, how will you season it?  Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another."

Here again we see salt and know that Jesus is saying that we must have salt in ourselves - godliness, purity, holiness.

Interestingly, though, is this word "fire" He used - Every one will be seasoned with FIRE...

Besides its natural significance, this particular Greek word for "fire" refers to the Holiness of God which consumes all that is inconsistent with it.  Hebrews 12.29 talks about God being a "consuming fire".  He is Holy.  And His holiness consumes all that is inconsistent with it.

We cannot continue to live like the world, inconsistent with the holiness of God, and expect to not be consumed.  We must present our bodies, our minds, our lives as a Living Sacrifice - HOLY - and acceptable to God.

The Apostle John wrote - "Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  All that is in the world - the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not from the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."  (I John 2.15-17)

DON'T LOVE THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD... LOVE the will of God and do the will of God, and you'll abide forever.

Purity and holiness of life flows from a pure heart.  The outflow of your life comes from whatever you have put in your heart.  If you've surrounded yourself with the things of this world, if you've fed your mind and heart with worldly ways and worldly things - you'll not produce holiness in your life.  But if you have kept your heart right with God by filling your mind and heart with His Word and His ways - you'll produce the "saltiness", the godliness that this world needs to taste.

Romans 2.29 NLT says that  "a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.  True circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit.  Who ever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people."

True circumcision is possessing a pure heart, which produces a pure life.