the purity of kindness

Today I had a thought while riding with Tim, my pastor and brother-in-law, to pick out a new keyboard for the worship team. We talked about how easy it is for a lot of Christians to feel safe and somehow further along the path than "the godless heathen". We don't murder people, take drugs, spend everynight tying one on. We don't have multiple sex partners (on the whole) or engage in prostitution. We promote personal purity.

It's easy, though, to rip a brother or sister in Christ's head off, whether in public or private. To harbor a grudge, in some cases--if honesty were being served and we were truthful about our thoughts and actions--to hate someone. To say things that aren't exactly uplifting or kind. (God forbid, however, we say "hell" or "damn". And the F-word? By their fruits you'll know them and the F-word isn't a fruit a saved person would bear!) In other words, we can be mean, backbiting, nasty people. But if we keep our pants zipped, our heads clear and our mouths clean, we're pure.

But I wonder if that's all there is to purity? Doesn't purity, while including self-control, also include things like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness? Is there an inner purity that we've overlooked because we've categorized the sins Christians have the most trouble with as "clean sins?" And why don't these matter too? Why does James Dobson say that Gay Marriage is the greatest assault on the American family, (a "purity" issue), when we know that divorce is, (and the Church's rate is no better than the general population's) and that many times divorce doesn't start with a sin of the appetite, but the sin of impatience, rudeness, lack of love, anger or unfaithfulness in the everyday commitment to being married?

Maybe purity, in the sight of God, is just as much about the inside as it is about the outside. Maybe more. Just a thought.

grace,

lisa