Purity

As responsible parents, giving our children ‘pure’ things is important. We wouldn’t want to tell our kids to go get a drink out of the pond or go rummage through the dumpster for lunch, nor would we endorse a sexually active lifestyle, because all of these things aren’t good for them on many different levels (physical and spiritual). God also does not want His children engaged in activities that bring upon them the effects of impurity. 

Purity is an important part of God’s instructions to the Israelites after they left the Egyptian culture and were preparing to enter into the Canaanite culture. These purity laws weren’t just to ward off diseases, although as we read those dietary laws especially, we can see the value in that. However, the purity guidelines pointed towards something else that predates Egypt, or even civilization–the choice. By clearly defining the foods and practices that ultimately pollute the mind or the body, they had a better idea of how to honor God. So, Leviticus was given as a guide or a map that was filled with laws and rituals that point to purity, which revealed God’s nature as well. 

Leviticus 11:44-45, “Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy, because I am holy.” These were more than a list of laws and practices to ‘observe or die!’ 

These were intended to help reshape our thinking about the things humans choose to come in contact with every day. Throughout the book of Leviticus, most foods or actions were avoidable. Occasionally, there were situations that were beyond their control, but there were instructions on how to indemnify their purity. 

Ultimately, these laws are about choices. In our culture, we recognize that our “pure” foods are presented as choices. Organic? Processed? Natural? Artificial? Those are all choices that you have to make to determine a future result in your body. God’s laws are intended to do the same thing but on a different level. Not just concerned with the glow of your skin or the flow of your blood, but about the way you think about life all around you. 

Sadly, the ritual takes precedence over the function, or blessing of purity. Paul said in Romans 1:24-25, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” 

They failed to see the blessing of purity in life. They made choices like Eve made in the garden; choices that caused them to lose something she had in her midst but traded it for a lie! Sometimes the rituals we engage in help to remind us of a future goal (physically but especially spiritually). Leviticus helps to point to the concept of delayed gratification. This is choosing to say “no” to something now, so I will be positioned to enjoy something else later. Jesus showed us a way of life that blesses us both now and forever