Purify Your Water

How many Americans actually drink water from their tap?  I feel like a water snob sometimes, but it's just so much better if it has been filtered or bottled.  Am I right?

Purified water is just better.
How pure are you?

I recently searched the word "pure" in the Bible, and a very long list of verses popped up - too many for me to count.  Here are a few of my personal favorites, with food for thought regarding each:

God has united you with Christ Jesus.  For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself.  Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. (1 Cor. 1:30)
Do you feel pure and holy?  Did you realize that you were made pure and holy?  You were born innocent (or pure/holy) at birth.  What happened along the way?  Sin entangles all of us, and our lives take turns that lead us down different pathways.  How much of your life's pathway do you have control over?

Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart; I am pure and free from sin?"  False weights and unqual measures- the Lord detests doubles standards of every kind. Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.  (Prov. 20:9-11)
Is it possible to be pure and free from sin?  We're often reminded that we've been cleansed and made free by the blood of the Lamb, and that His blood covers/forgives our sin.  That's why it's called grace - a free gift that is undeserved.  However, if the gift is not appreciated and we take advantage of it, how good is it?  Can you ask someone for forgiveness 77 times over the same transgression and keep doing whatever pleases you?  That's one sure-fire way to trample a heart if you ask me.

Whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech will have the king as a friend.  The Lord preserves those with knowledge, but he ruins the plans of the treacherous.  (Prov. 22:11-12)

I recently made a resolution to live with the highest standards of virtue and purity.  (Thanks to "The Resolution for Women" by Priscilla Shirer.)  This is also known as integrity.  Shirer states that "external strength alone can be enough to handle some of the simpler, less demanding situations, but when the stress builds to a certain weight and downward force, when it's more than our surface assets alone can carry, the person lacking depth of integrity will SNAP.  Fall to pieces.  Implode." (p. 159)

I've actually experienced an implosion of self.  Not fun!  Anxiety can get the best of me, and I'm just now learning how to properly deal with it.  To assist you in living a life of integrity, Shirer suggests making these commitments:
1.  Have no tolerance for evil.  Don't engage in activities that could progressively cause you to be desensitized to sin.
2.  Closely monitor the type of people you allow to influence you.
3.  Recognize your need for divine help.  "Never expect that you can recalibrate the frequency settings on your life without lots and lots of God's help, grace, and shepherding.  He will be sure to alert you to changes that need to be made and then will eagerly empower you to carry them out." (Shirer, p. 150)