GOD IS SO PURE, HE CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT EVIL.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Habakkuk 1:12-13.
Verse of the Day: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13, NIV).
Robbie and his mom stood in the aisle of the small grocery store near their apartment. He noticed his mother’s habit of reading the label on each package she took off the shelf.
“Why do you do that, Mommy?” Robbie asked.
“Oh,” Mom said, looking at a packet of sliced cheese, “I do it to see what’s in the package.”
“But can’t you tell just from looking at it?” Robbie asked. “Well, yes,” she said, “I can tell this is cheese. But I want to see what’s in the cheese.”
“You mean it’s not just cheese?”
“No, not exactly,” Mom answered. She hesitated for a moment before she began her explanation. “Some kinds of food have a lot of other things—like chemicals and preservatives—added to them.” She dropped the cheese into the shopping cart, took a few steps down the aisle, and then stopped. “There are very few things in this world today that are pure, Robbie.” She swept her hand to indicate the shelves filled with various containers of food. “The cereal we eat has added sugar, the vegetables have added preservatives, and the canned fruit even has artificial coloring in it.”
“So none of it’s real?” Robbie asked.
“Oh, it’s real,” Mom said with a chuckle. “But it’s not pure. ‘Pure’ means that there’s nothing dirty or…” she hesitated,”… or foreign in it. And, like I said, Robbie, very little in this world is pure. And if a thing is pure, it is usually much more valuable.” She steered the cart into the next aisle as they talked. “Can you think of anything that’s pure?”
Robbie shook his head.
“That’s OK, I’ll tell you. God is pure.”
Robbie cocked his head as if he were absorbing this information.
“That’s right. God is pure. Everything about him is pure. In fact, the Bible says that God is so pure, he can’t even look at things that are impure.”
Robbie’s eyes widened. “Does that mean God can’t see this cheese?”
Mom laughed. “No, Robbie,” she said. “But it does mean that he can’t stand to look at sin. That’s why he sent Jesus to die for us, so that he can make us pure in God’s sight.”
TO DO: Check your cabinets and refrigerator. How many “pure” items do you have? Why is purity in the products we buy important? Write Habakkuk 1:13 on a card and attach it to your refrigerator or cabinet to remind you of the importance of purity.
TO PRAY: “God, whenever we’re tempted to think impure thoughts or to add impurities to our life, remind us that we can choose to be pure as you are pure.”
