The Ivory Coat

So J. Crew had this ivory coat I had been eyeing for years. It was always way out of my price range, so I never really gave much thought to buying it. But a couple of years ago, I needed a new coat and happened to find this one on EBay in my exact size, new with tags. It even came with a free scarf! But now there's the actual owning of said coat. The making sure you aren't about to sit in something gross, or that when you hang it up it isn't brushing the ground. Making sure it stays special and that it doesn't mingle with the grodiness around me. So far, pretty good. I was thinking of this just a minute ago as I read a writing from Charles Spurgeon about the importance of keeping light from darkness. He was making the point that everything beautiful and of-God in the world must, necessarily, be kept undefiled. If not, it ceases to be pure. If it ceases to be pure, the darkness around it has no hope. This is the reason we watch what we put into our minds. It doesn't mean being naive or sheltered, but it means having enough wisdom to discern what is necessary and what is not. Are we watching trashy television just-because? Reading magazines and books full of cynicism and naively thinking it doesn't affect our thought life? Listening to music that degrades us as women because we "like the beat," not understanding that it is shaping how we see ourselves and others? It makes me think of the Bible passage that says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word." The "you" here refers to God and how we can stay undefiled in a world of filth. We can keep our proverbial off-white coats spot-free without having to obsess, because God transforms us with His love as we get to know Him by reading the Bible! Since He cleanses from the inside out, no matter what others do to us, we are still clean. Here that again: there is nothing someone else can do to you to make you unclean. Ever. So as we let Him keep us clean, we will be free to offer goodness to others. It's kind of like the oxygen mask instructions on airplanes. Put your mask on first if you have a dependent. Because if something happens to you, they have to fend for themselves. In this case, keep yourself pure, because you have a unique, God-given light to shine! And whether you know it/want it or not, people are watching you and learning from you. Happy off-white coat wearing!