day 762: Purity

"But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy."

There was a time that when we heard or read about the product that was "99 44/100% Pure", that we would have immediately known that it was Ivory Soap. Since I am not a business historian, I can't say whether or not the claim was accurate, but it worked. Today, it's harder because of regulatory standards to make claims unless they are fully substantiated. Yet still the claim of purity remains one of the best ways to convince and influence a consumer. What is there not to like about purity? When we hear that something is pure we also seem to want to extend the purity and goodness to the company and the intentions of those who are making and selling the product. We like the idea that someone cares about making something that is pure. We want to believe that these people behind the products are also pure of heart. But, we must be careful about our claims because there may not be any other statement that will attract greater scrutiny. Just as we want to believe that something can be truly pure, there are also others who want to be the ones that prove the claim to be false.

We are to be as pure and as holy as we can be. We are told that many times in God's Word. But, we can't be pure or holy unless we are doing so to be in the likeness of Christ. If we are only striving to be pure, as in good, then we may be doing well, but we are not centered where God wants us to be. What we are told to do is to be holy as God is holy. As we work it is certainly not easy to be holy or to be pure. We are faced all day long with those areas and things in our jobs that do their best to pull us away from Him. It may not be that we are doing anything that is obviously wrong, dishonest, or not becoming. But, underneath it all work can make us take it all on our own, depend upon only ourselves, and forget who it is that we are to depend, rely and call upon. When we are trying to go it alone, without God as our center and director, then we cannot be holy and pure as he wants us to be. As we start this week let's consider how pure our intentions are and how hard we are worKING to be holy in His eyes?

Reference: 1 Peter 1:15 (New Living Testament)

day 48: Wholly Holy

Webster's second definition of holy is: "dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion; a holy man." The question at hand is can we be wholly holy by being holy at work? Of course the answer is yes, although not easy. The workplace is not a place (unless you are so fortunate to work somewhere where the open sharing of your faith is accepted and welcomed) where you usually feel comfortable expressing your faith, bowing your head to pray over your lunch, reading your Bible on break, or saying a prayer with someone else. Most workplaces aren't opposed to any of that, but it is not encouraged because most companies think there should be separation from work and religion. The legal issues alone that come from discrimination from one religious group to another causes companies to shy away from the topic all together. But we can't just shut off our relationship with God and ask Him to sit home or go spend time with someone else while we go to the office. Instead we have to have find a way to remain in fellowship, prayerful and holy while the work day moves along. We are given a simple call in I Thessalonians on how to remain holy by subtracting and denying another part of our life. We are told in Chapter 4, verse 7: "God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives". Simply said, if we can remove the impurities of our lives, at work too, and strive to live a life of purity, then we are tracking towards living a holy life. So, what we can all do is commit ourselves in the mornings when we head to the office to a day without impurity, a day where we will do our best to do right. If we can start there and string together 8-10 hours, day after day, then we are building a foundation of purity and a foundation of holiness. And before long, we will find that one can be wholly holy at work and thus living our lives more fully overall.

Reference: I Thessalonians 4:7