Unstained

Last week my daughter purchased some purple dye to stain her white tennis shoes. I have to say that I really couldn’t envision the process or even her desire to dye the shoes. They were just a really cheap pair of white, now-stained, Wal-Mart shoes. She began the process by bleaching the shoes (to remove any stains that might block the dye) and then came the interesting part. I had assumed she would just drop the shoes in the dye and have completely purple shoes, but that wasn’t the case. She carefully wiped Vaseline on the trim of the shoes. When asked why, her response went something like this: “You wipe the Vaseline on to keep the dye off the parts you want to remain white.”  I have to say that the Vaseline worked perfectly to keep the trim white even though the results of the dye job weren’t to her liking the first time around—light pink just wasn’t the look she was going for. She decided to try again in an attempt to create the purple she desired and went through the entire process one more time.

It occurred to me that this process resembles the Christian walk. We first need the removal of our stains—the “bleaching” process that comes only through the blood of Christ when we are saved. Then we, too, need protection to keep us unstained from the world that so easily sullies us with its contact. Our “Vaseline” is the Holy Spirit that indwells us and protects us from becoming just like the world in which we live. Also, we don’t always get it right as soon as we’re saved—we mess up (sin) and need forgiveness and find that in Christ when we seek Him, repent, and grow in His word. Each day God’s mercies are new for us, and when we are mercifully covered by His blood, faithfully read his directions (the Bible), prayerfully let the Spirit guide us, and diligently keep on following Him even when the world would lead us astray, we end up with perfectly royal (purple) robes. We are children of the King!

James 1:21 offers insight into what pure and undefiled religion truly is: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (NASB). The first part of this verse is easy to overlook, but it is so important. Religion abounds in most every culture, but the only religion that is pure and undefiled is defined by God the Father…not by man and his code. People may think they are Christians because they faithfully attend services or read their Bibles, but God offers a very different perspective. First, true religion (pure and undefiled) requires action: “to visit orphans and widows in their distress.” Also, true religion requires ‘keeping oneself unstained by the world.” Man must depend on God to save, actively care for others, and be unstained. The neat thing about this is that others notice…just like everyone raved over my daughter’s purple shoes and wanted to know where she got them, people will notice a Christian living a life that is unstained, and hopefully, they will want to know how they can get the same results.