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“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure” (Titus 1:15).
“And such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
All of us, as Christians, have probably had the experience of having what we considered a normal conversation with unbelievers, and having them turn what we say into talk that was defiling. We may have made a remark that to us was perfectly clean and acceptable, only to have them say something about it that tried to take the conversation down a wrong road. We have to be prepared for this kind of thing in this world, for our first verse in Titus goes on to say, “Even their mind and conscience is defiled.” We find this experience rather disturbing, and we may wonder what to do.
First of all, let us remember our second verse, and that we too have an old sinful nature. Before we were saved, we may have been guilty of the same thing. And even if we did not do it, yet we had to recognize that the tendency was in our hearts. Then, let us graciously but firmly point out that since we belong to Christ, we do not appreciate that kind of talk. Bringing in the name of Christ is not popular, but it is powerful, and will usually cause the one who made the defiling remark to feel ashamed. In this way we are the light of the world.
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