Purpose of Purging

What comes to mind when you hear the word “purge”?  Some good, some bad of course.  The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines it in this way: “To clear of guilt, free from moral or ceremonial defilement, evacuate (as in bowels), make free of something unwanted, rid a nation by a purge, removal of undesirable elements, purify, sanctify.”

The United States of America seems to be going through some kind of purge.  Some seek to purge this nation of Christians and of God’s definition of what is good.  They seek to replace them with their own definitions and elements of what they call good.  Think of it in this way: They want to “sanctify” the nation of God’s sanctified people and His ways – a direct assault on God!  To purge Christians, prayer, and the Bible, is an attempt to purge God.

This has been attempted many times over the history of the world (the Garden of Eden, Babylonia, the Philistines, the Egyptians, Caesar, Hitler, Lenin, etc.).  Always with some limited success— then with ultimate failure.  God will not be removed from His creation nor from His people

Often at the target’s center is prayer and God’s Word— the Bible.  Nevertheless, no matter how many Torahs are discarded, or millions of Bibles burned— whether Jews and Christians are set aside, imprisoned, killed or simply scattered— the Law of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ and God’s people (the Church) continue on … even to flourish.

Though difficult, it is good that we as Christians are purged, especially by God’s Spirit and God’s Word within us.  We do not look to be purged from our land and buildings or nation, but we should be looking to be purged of the sin and dross in our lives.  At times these happen together.

Proverbs 25:4 reads, “Remove the dross from the silver and out comes material for the silversmith.”  

Let us look first at the need in our own lives for purging and purification.  When we have done that, then we work for the real purging in our nation also.  We have been, and are, sanctified in Christ (Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:2), but we certainly are not yet perfected. Becoming like Christ is a process, sometimes a very difficult and painful one.  The heat that silver or gold must endure for the dross to be separated and removed is extreme, but the result is precious purity.  It has been said the silversmith knows when the silver is pure when he sees his reflection in it.  Is that reflection of Christ Jesus seen in us?

Matthew 13:43 reads, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears, let him hear.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel