REPURIFIED

"Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'" (Luke 8:47-48, NIV)

The superintendent at a local course has asked his members to buy two pairs of golf shoes. "One," he wrote in the monthly newsletter, "is for here; one is for when you play elsewhere."

The idea was that "those other courses" have weeds in their greens--especially the dreaded poa annua that pervades the putting surfaces on the California coast--and the superintendent didn't want the seeds of such noxious grass brought back to his members' sanctuary.

It's a good plan, and as far as agronomy goes, it makes perfect biological sense.

But here is a matter in which we should not confuse the natural with the spiritual. For in the spiritual realm, the weeds do not always win the battle, and in the end they will not win the war.

Jesus, we know, was the embodiment of purity. That's part of what comes of being God incarnate ("in the flesh"). Holiness had a hold on Him--just as He had on it!

But there were others in His time who thought they were pretty near pure as well. Paul was one of these, telling the Philippians that "as for legalistic righteousness," he had been faultless. But because their apparent purity was also their pride, the Pharisees regarded their holiness as quite fragile.

On, they wouldn't have told you this outright. But look at how they lived: shunning lepers and bleeders, lambasting sinners. And Gentiles? Avoid them at all contaminating costs.

Then along came Jesus. And, in the words of writer Scot McKnight, "Jesus is the first contagion of purity. Jesus lives for us and He becomes impure for us so that He can touch us and 'infect' us with His purity."

Jesus changed the natural order of things. He did this for the woman with the incurable issue of blood. He did this for the leprous man. He did this for the adulterous and the thief. He did this for you and He did this for me. In each case, He brought us from the wasteland of rejection into the courts of His kingdom.

I don't know how much this means to you, but it should mean everything. For we are among those who have been forgiven much. And thus, we have much to rejoice in.

--

Jeff Hopper

July 18, 2006

Copyright 2006 Links Players International

The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.