In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives a little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it.Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.
How do we handle our purity in Christ Jesus? This is the question we have to ask ourselves every day. Do we compromise our faith for the sake of convenience? Or do we watch pornography on the internet, magazine or TV for the sake of entertainment? Do we back down from what we believe in Jesus for the sake of not being left out by the “in-crowd”?
We would do well to take a lesson from the ermine when it comes to purity. Are we careful about our reading material, our viewing habits and the company we keep? Or are we entertained by the impurity that surrounds us?
Purity may seem to be a thing of the past, but rest assured, it is still ever bit as much worth fighting for as it ever has been. We need to be diligent in guarding our purity.
