‘We should call our hearts to account every evening, and say, O my heart! Where hast thou been today? Where have thy thoughts been wandering? Where has thou made a road today? O naughty heart! Vain heart! Couldst thou not abide by the fountain of delights? Is there better entertainment with the creature than with God?’-John Flavel.
My first encounter with the term purity under the sexual purity light, was in my pre-adolescent years as everyone around seemed to scare you over the magnitude of things that came with being a teenager. I distinctly remember the level of awkwardness and discomfort that came with those talks. Let’s just push this a notch higher, mother dearest is a VERY passionate biology teacher 😌. Every opportunity she could get, she would go all out on getting us informed. You’d be seated peacefully just the two of you possibly chilling, at the climax of your favorite movie, she would come raining down on you with the essay on the reproductive system and some crazy mnemonic to help you remember the over 10 hormones coupled by their gazillion purposes(or so it felt). Well, this was a tad bit bearable in high school as those were the easiest free marks in the given paper but it was on so many levels of uncomfortable from my pre teen years to that point. Sadly out of the three of us only one scored a plain A almost narrowly missing it and the others almost dropped it as a choice subject. As I digress…
The then given understanding of the society majorly on purity was entirely sexual purity which revolved around keeping away from the consequences that came with the physical indulgence. At one point in high school I remember, they got an NGO to come share more of ‘instill’ fear over the consequences that came with being sexually active out of the confines of marriage. I doodled almost through it all given the level of discomfort. Having done my last three years of primary education in a catholic boarding school that capitalized on fear as a way of installing discipline, I was not going to bite the bait on this one. All through that talk, I’d convinced myself that I was a happy by stander up until I found myself having signed and made a purity pledge, mumbling through words that merely made much sense to me then. My two cents, that sharing session did more harm than good as they stirred a level of curiosity that was previously nonexistent.
Sexual purity is one of the most dreaded conversations or discussions I have encountered thus far. I think we, Christians, are now slowly learning how to deliver the given subject. The delivery has always been on either extreme; dancing around the subject or using fear to send the message home. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the need to aggressively put it out there. It is the execution that I do not agree to.
The world has given quick solutions and measures on how to get away with being sexually active outside the given biblical confines. There is much that the church does not say in such gatherings as they strive to keep the ‘younger’ generation away from it and when they do, the clarity lacks as they speak. I do not stand to discredit the level of urgency in creating awareness about it. Quite the contrary, sexual immorality happens to be the only sin that the bible commands you to flee from;
1 Corinthians 6:18
‘Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.’
God is definitely clear about purity in its entirety. I am out to decipher this for many of us as the Spirit handled it for me on a random idle afternoon early this year. Lying on the coach, blankly staring at the screen, trying to recover from the repercussions that came with pushing limits where weight training is concerned 🙆🏽.
Purity bears many forms and cannot be contained nor confined under one given definition.
- It is a state of mind; Where do your thoughts linger? Where has your heart wandered to?
Matthew 15:19-20 is quite clear on this; ‘For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person…’
Proverbs 4:23 ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.’
- Purity is in motive as well; What are your intentions behind the given gesture? What has fueled your actions? What is your end game?
I have been journeying through the old testament and the one thing that has constantly stood out for me is God’s stand on intentions. If your intentions are not right, He calls you out on it. It will not be necessarily in a manner that you’d love but one full of love. The one thing we, as believers, need to understand is that all our actions are as an effect of what we have been feeding on or having our thoughts lingering on.
Matthew 5:28 God reminds us; ‘But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’
A tad bit too harsh you think ? Isn’t that what our loving Father is guarding us from? The atrocities that come with a wandering heart as He reminds us the importance of keeping our minds stayed on Him, Psalms 26:3.
How then do we get to move from one extreme to another on this scale of sexual purity?
In 1 Corinthians 6:19 we are reminded;
‘Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]?’
God fills you up and calls you to task to walk in His ways with a Helper to keep us in check. Staying informed will have you guarding this temple that He resides in zealously as a way of walking in obedience. Diligently guard your heart and your thoughts from anything that will defile or corrupt you against that which is of God as Psalms 119:9 requires of us. It will call for a slow but sure progress in how you handle and present yourself as He has called you to be a pure bride, the bride of Christ. Knowing the value that God has of you will remain the ultimate key in turning away from anything that seeks to state the contrary.
The many vices that hinder one from remaining a pure bride for Christ mainly stem from a place of ignorance on worth and love. You are loved unconditionally by a great Father who is the true essence of love, slow to anger but abiding in love. You are worth it all for He gave His most priced possession to win you over from the snares of the enemy. He took it all, the shame, the weird stares and random whispers ,the accusations, the guilt, the damned conscience, the what ifs just to secure you in His loving arms. He wants to perfect you in this love as in 1 John 4:18, to grow you into a sufficient understanding of God’s love as it casts out all fear.
Will it be easy?
Nope! It will take everything you’ve got in you to walk away from decisions /situations/environments that you know would trigger you to wander and get you back into those snares.
Will it be worth it?
Definitely yes! Every bit of it! We have got this assurance right here;
Psalms 34:8 ” Taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.”
Is it driven by fear?
Nope but by an understanding of the gem you are, a co-heir with Christ.
Therefore stand BOLD child and rightfully take your place in God’s kingdom!!
♥♥ Lots of love ♥♥
Kate.
PS: This is over 2 months late. 😔
I’ve been pressing that reset button and choosing to remain at rest as I aggressively pursue wellness.
This post was triggered by the above quote that a really good friend shared.
Thanks Ben😊
HIGHCARBLIVING 