Pure Substance

I want to see “A Counter-Culture of Purity” in my own life and the lives of believers everywhere, because it says in the book of James that we should keep ourselves unpolluted by the world. This implies that the world is polluted, meaning it has toxic elements mixed into it, for impurity is merely mixture; purity means there is only one substance — and Scripture declares Christ to be the true substance. Oddly, we call drug addiction “substance abuse,” but a Biblical perspective would say it’s the wrong substance. And the wrong substance is anything that isn’t Christ. Our human experience demands comfort, because it is a painful experience, and God knows this; He experienced it Himself. Jesus overcame all lesser things of this world by keeping His heart purely devoted to the will of God, for God is pure light, pure truth, pure righteousness, and pure justice. There is nothing false in Him, just as there was nothing false in Jesus. He radiated to the world around Him because of that purity, and disciples of Christ are called to shine like stars in the blackness of night by being “holy as He is holy.” Purity and holiness go hand in hand, yet both of these words get a bad rap. We recognize, however, the value of pure gold.

When it comes to earthly materials, we ascribe value based on two factors: purity and rarity. The more rare a substance, the higher the value; the more pure a substance, the higher the value. Diamonds hold high value because the pressure required to create them is rare, a very particular set of circumstances. Interestingly, despite their smooth appearance, diamonds are the hardest substance on earth. The rarity of the pressure and circumstances creates something both alluring and enduring. And of course, the more pure it is increases its value exponentially. Diamonds are the only gemstone made of one element: carbon. This can be compared to Christ and monotheism, which are very “hard” in their exclusivity. Jesus didn’t say, “I know the truth.” He said, “I am the Truth.” The word for ‘holy’ in Scripture means ‘set apart,’ unlike any other, in a class of its own — this is rarity. Holiness is rare to find in an unholy world. Purity is rare to find in an impure world. So we see that God has hidden spiritual truths in our natural reality, but we must seek to understand. When we go to drink water, we don’t want to drink dirty, polluted water. We want pure water, because we know impure water makes us sick, but pure water hydrates and revitalizes us for life.

Yet when we begin to talk about purity of heart, then there’s an aversion to the word, even though we instinctively know it’s something to be valued and even protected. Why, then, do we struggle to see the value of protecting the purity of our own hearts? It is precisely because our hearts have not been valued in a world that sells purity to the highest bidder. A world that violates and desecrates purity at every opportunity. A world that seeks the comfort of a substance faster than the pressure of purity. To remain pure in such a world is not an easy task. To guard our hearts from toxins and pollutants is a continual struggle, a constant battle that can be grueling and exhausting, but it is worth the fight! And what is the fight? Scripture calls it the good fight of faith. Faith in what? Faith in Christ, the Pure Substance. By faith in Him, we are called pure. We fight every thought, emotion, or desire which resists this belief. Our actions stem from our beliefs, so if our beliefs are impure, then our actions will be impure. If we purify our beliefs, then our actions will be purified as well. Jesus said, “Wisdom is proved right by her actions.” And Scripture says, “The wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure.”

Sexual purity is something we have an even deeper aversion to because our natural bodies crave the pleasure of sexual connection, yet the deepest pleasure of sex is the connection itself. When our hearts are disconnected from Christ, the Pure Substance, they seek connection elsewhere; and when that happens sexually, then we find ourselves with impure sexuality. So what is the wisdom of God in this area? Either celibacy or pure and undefiled marriage. Why? Because “God desires holy offspring,” and the purity that holiness demands means there must be no mixture with other elements — in the case of marriage and sexuality, this means no other people. Perhaps that doesn’t sound very “fun” or enticing to most people, but we must always seek to understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ of God’s design. Ultimately, it is because God values our hearts far more than we do, and He knows what we need to be satisfied and fulfilled. Even though a new sexual excursion may feel fun and pleasurable for a moment, it cannot leave us with a lasting and permanent satisfaction. It is a substance, but it is not the Pure Substance. True sexual fulfillment is oneness, and we are invited into oneness with Christ by unbroken connection.

My own journey with sexuality has not been easy or perfect by any means, so I do not consider myself better than anyone in this regard, but it is precisely because of my personal pains in this area that I know the destruction of foolish actions. My own folly has beaten me to a pulp and left me stranded for dead. It’s why I crave pure wisdom and understanding in this realm. I have spent decades seeking to understand sexuality — personally, spiritually, relationally, and socio-ethically — and the only thing that brings the most wholeness and blessing is this: “God made the two to become one flesh.” Anything outside of this invites misery, deception, and destruction. We can rebel against God’s design, but that never works in our favor in the end, and we will be heartbroken eventually. Could it be that sexuality is such a potent force of our nature that it can either create heaven or hell in our experiential reality? I think the evidence is overwhelming. As with anything, undirected energy rarely creates constructively; but directed and self-controlled energy has limitless potential. Potential is unharnessed potency. When potency (or power) is unharnessed (unbridled), then it quickly becomes a destructive force. When potency is harnessed with skill and wisdom, then it becomes a constructive force for harmonious wholeness.

Jesus doesn’t merely offer us a better way. He offers us the best and highest way, which is why He says, “I am the Way.” The Way of Pure Substance, where we are truly satisfied and fulfilled to the utmost. It is not for no reason that God calls Himself ‘The Most High,’ because there is no ascension in any realm of reality that is higher than Him. There is nothing we can take or do that elevates our human potential more than oneness with Him, who is our Source. And when we remain in unbroken connection with the Father of creation, then we also will be children of creation, and the only thing that will limit our creativity is our own unbelief. “The way of the faithless is hard.” The mixture of belief makes our spiritual waters murky and polluted, but by filtering out the toxins we can have pure spiritual water flowing through us into everything we do. The toxins of the spirit are beliefs formed from lies, and the antidote is Jesus Christ Himself, the Truth and fulfillment of Scripture. If we do not read, listen to, and meditate on the words of God, applying them by action in our lives, then we won’t know what to believe. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death.”

It is our own way that is the way of death, because we are not the Source of Life. In our natural bodies we all have a source of life in our sexuality, yet we create a life of needless misery and suffering by failing to follow the Way of Christ. And His way is not burdensome by external demands and behavioral modification, but it is the way of love within the heart. It is a way of continual healing, renewal, and growth through the ancient practice of repentance, which is to turn away from lesser ways and toward the higher ways. In the book of Isaiah it says, “There is a highway of holiness, and only the redeemed can walk there.” Redeemed is to be brought from the old to the new, to be lifted from lower ways to higher ways, to be made whole again. Repentance is the implied prerequisite. Remember that spiritual holiness can be more easily understood by considering natural rarity. God says you are rare and valuable because you are made in His image, but do you believe Him enough to let Him redeem your rarity and place you on that highway of holiness? A highway is made to move fast by being unobstructed, and it is our own way that is obstructing us with unbelief, creating misery and slowdowns in life.

So then what is the unobstructed way of life? Jesus did not say, “I will give you a good life.” He said, “I am the Life.” He is the unobstructed way of life because He is the conqueror of death. He said, “I have come that they may have abundant life.” And elsewhere He says, “Those who believe in Me will have streams of living water flowing from within them.” If we want abundant streams of living water flowing through our natural and spiritual selves, then we need to believe! Filter out all the toxicity of unbelief until there is only the undiluted potency of faith, which is “the substance of things unseen.” We cannot see the wind, but we can feel it and see the way it moves things all around us. We cannot see our hearts, but we can feel them beating within the chest, the most vital organ being hidden behind our ribcage. Even though we cannot see Christ, we can experience the abundant life by faith in Him as our Pure Substance. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” All lesser substances are burned up by the fires of faith, as we surrender to the gracious gift of life that God desires to freely give us. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” and what could be more free than a life of pure abundance in Christ?