Purified for a Purpose (Friday Devotional)

“Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.”

- 1 Peter 1:22

At my wife’s insistence, all the drinking water in our household runs through a Brita filter before it gets poured into a glass. Brita’s claim is that by doing this, we are removing 99% of the chlorine and heavy metals found in tap water, delivering a purified version of the water comes out of the faucet. I just know Lindsey thinks it tastes better.

What I didn’t know was how many things that purified water can then be used for, things for which tap water is unsuitable. For example, technical specifications for laboratory testing requires that all water be purified; the potential for chemical interference from tap water is deemed an unacceptable risk. Purified water is used in the production of pharmaceutical products, both as an ingredient and a solvent; impurities render this an impossibility for tap water. Even in aquariums (which would surely love the cheaper option of using water straight from the tap), freshwater tanks are filled with purified water to reduce the likelihood of infecting the aquatic life inside. This much seems clear: when you purify ‘dirty’ water, it is suddenly able to do a lot of things it was previously incapable of.

This is equally true of spiritual purification. Much of the focus on spiritual purity rests on what is wrong with you apart from Christ (sin) and how that impurity is removed (by the grace of God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ). Unfortunately, that’s usually where the conversation stops—you are cleansed of all unrighteousness by the blood of Christ, and now you can go on your merry way, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

But 1 Peter 1:22 points out that, just like water can do new things once it is purified, so too can Christians. When faith in Christ and obedience to the truth have purified your soul, the apostle says, you are now able to practice “genuine mutual love”, to “love one another deeply from the heart.” In Christ, you are able to understand and practice love in a new way, to engage people with his compassion and grace and to live out the truth of the cross in your daily life.

The only question is whether you will take advantage of this new power your purification offers you. The water Lindsey and I put through our Brita filter doesn’t do anything tap water couldn’t, and for too many believers, that’s true of their lives, lives which God has purified by the blood of His Son but which are devoted to the same pursuits as when sin ruled them. May you not fall prey to this kind of spiritual apathy, but instead seize the new opportunity to reach out to others with the deep, overflowing love of Jesus.