There’s an animal found in some spots in the state of Minnesota, as well as other places of similar climate, called the ermine. The ermine is a short-tailed weasel that has the unique feature of having its fur change to a snow-white color in the winter. God created this animal with this feature to protect it from others. The ermine instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it.

Fur hunters in northern Europe and Asia take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.

For the Christian purity ought to be more precious than life, for without purity we can never really have life.

Three of the ways we can stumble in purity is with impure words, impure emotions and impure thoughts. It seems like we have been commanded to do more than we are physically capable of doing. And guess what. We have been. God designed us. He knows how strong our emotions can be. He knows how easily our thoughts can sweep us away. He knows how quickly our tongue can speak either life into a situation or death. This is why the blessing of having a pure heart is simply the means to having one. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

But what is a pure heart?

In 1 Timothy 1:5 , a pure heart is linked with a good conscience and a sincere faith. A pure heart is when God has our hearts. Now the heart is the center of our emotions and will, and spiritually the heart controls our entire being. If God has our heart, he has everything else of us too. If God doesn’t have our heart, he really has nothing of us.

This is how one comes to having a pure heart. We do not just all of a sudden “Have a pure heart”. And just because we simply choose to flee from sex doesn’t make our heart pure. We also don’t just all of a sudden see God. Just because I have a quiet time every once in a while doesn’t mean that I see Him. Having a pure heart goes along with Seeing Him. They happen together. The more we have a pure heart the more we see Him. The more we see Him the more we have a pure heart. When Jesus has our heart He has us. And only with Him can we tame our tongue. Only with Him can we control every emotion. Only with Him can we control every thought. This is what it means to have a pure heart.

Our Tongues

The tongue is something so powerful that God warns us that it is like a fire. Our tongues, if not kept in check can set fire to all the areas of this relationship that God desires to bless. Think about any time in your life that someone said something that hurt you. To them in that moment it was just a word, but here you are to this day still wounded because of it. The tongue is very powerful. The same way those words that were said to you were powerful enough to hurt you, words that are said between us regarding sexual desires could endanger us. God says “the tongues is a world of evil among the parts of the body, and that it can corrupt the whole person” This is a fact and a warning that we need to hear. All it takes is a little spark, and if left unchecked, the whole field will be up in flames. The same way that person that hurt you with those words never knew how you would internalize them, or how long they would stay with you, me and you don’t fully understand how our words regarding sex or our desire for it will affect the other person. We need to always be on guard for the tongue is evil.

Our Emotions

Jesus is as concerned with us having any type of sexual relationship to the same degree of us letting those sexual desires and emotions well up inside of us. He knows that in the same way that anger if left unchecked can lead to death, sexual desires if left unchecked will lead to actual physical immorality. God designed us to be sexual creatures. He also designed us as emotional creatures. Just because he gave us these emotions doesn’t mean he wants us to be consumed by them. In the same way that Cains anger eventually consumed him and eventually led to his killing of Abel, our desire for sex, or even our longing for intimacy if left unchecked can lead to our demise as well.

Our Thoughts

Matthew 5:27-28 says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Wow… Is God being serious? Does he actually want us to take this seriously? Is letting our minds think a certain thing the same as the actual act itself to Him? I believe the answer is yes.

Dating is a concept that is never spoken of in the bible. God commands me to treat you with absolute purity as a, get this, a sister, unless I am actually married to you. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 reads “… Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters with absolute purity.” I know this verse isn’t saying “yall need to see each other as relatives and if you sexually want each other you are wrong.” However it is stating specifically that I am suppose to treat you with absolute purity and you with me.

The good news is… we can achieve this kind of purity! We can achieve this pure heart by seeing God. And we can only see God because we continue to let Him purify our hearts. Nothing happens automatically, but we will continue to Grow in holiness as individuals, and also righteousness as a couple if we strive to have a pure Heart and Love our God. We just have to remember that our eyes must be on Jesus. Not on avoiding everything we are suppose to avoid. We will avoid those things by seeking Him out and by letting Him purify us.