Purity
Love me, love me, love me, God calls us to an intimate love relationship with Himself. He is our creator, redeemer, and friend. He created us with the intention to have a relationship with Him! He loves us dearly, so much so that He sent His only son to die so that we no longer have the barrier of sin separating us from Him.
Holy, Holy, Holy, He is a Holy God who can have absolutely no part of sin whatsoever, that is why He commands us:
Holy, Holy, Holy, He is a Holy God who can have absolutely no part of sin whatsoever, that is why He commands us:
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. -1Peter 1:15-16
this is where the relationship part comes in and why it's so important. As long as we are in our mortal bodies we will never be able to be perfectly Holy, but as long as we constantly walk in the light of our Father's grace and forgiveness, when He looks upon us we are white as snow in His eyes. Relationship is SO important.
Then comes the life of surrender, obedience, giving up what the I wants, and giving my life over to what He wants for my life. Surrender is hard, it means counting the cost. Am I willing to pay the price surrender to my Heavenly Father's will is going to cost me? It means handing all my anxiety, fear, longings, sexual desire, cravings, everything over to HIM. But so often we stop there and forget the joy, the peace, the AMAZING grace that is so readily available for us, we tend to look at how scary the process will be and forget the wonderful joy and peace it will produce.
Now you may think I have completely gone off on a bunny trail, but I think all of these points are oh so important for a life of purity, whether it may be your heart, mind, soul, or sexual. First, we must throw off the old man and all his desires and put on the new man, whose heart longs to follow the will of His maker.
When we have the kind of love that we should for our Father -an all-consuming love- the comes to the desire for the relationship with Him -communion and fellowship- then comes the surrender to his will. And I believe out of that then comes the desire for obedience to His plan for our lives.
Now I say all of that to say this, (and now I am specifically talking about sexual purity). Purity is a life long journey, something that has to be maintained with a very careful hawkeye, ALWAYS on guard, because our enemy is on the prowl ready to strike when you are at your weakest, and then he will make his move.
Talking from personal experience the struggle is very real, very hard, but oh so worth the battle. When there is no barrier of sin standing in the way of our communion with our Heavenly Father we can then have a very deep intimate relationship with Him, and be on fire for Jesus. And this is exactly what our enemy does not want. But oh let me tell you when you refuse to give in to what the devil says will be fun and rewarding, and give your body to the one it truly belongs to, the rewards will be out of this world (quite literally) you will be blessed by saying "no" to your flesh and it will give you fresh strength and courage to keep saying "no" in the future.
When living a maintained purity life you will be able to look back and see what your heavenly Father has redeemed you from, and how faithful He always was and will be. He loves us so much and He gave us the greatest gift of all time, His Son to die so that we can have a pure and Holy relationship with Him! Praise God!!!!
So if ever it comes to be extremely hard to keep maintaining that pure life, always remember that it is for His Honor and Glory, He created us for relationship, so that we would love Him in return, and maintaining a pure life in all aspects of our lives, we will have that wonderful unobstructed communion with our Heavenly Father and through that our lives will be a living testimony of what our Savior can do, and that will bring Him Honor and Glory.
Readers, because no matter who you are or what you have been through a maintained pure life is possible. I am not saying you will never fall, because we are human, but that's when you get right back up dust yourself off, ask forgiveness, and continue walking in the light of God's wonderful grace and forgiveness- because HE is able.
