Sometimes I feel like Cliff Hanger from the show Between the Lions. I am holding onto the cliff, trying to climb it, but it doesn’t seem like I'm getting that far. Worse, there are times where it feels like I am slipping.
What I mean is, when I am in a close relationship with God I am holding onto the cliff and climbing just fine. God's showing me which handholds and footholds to use. But when I miss spending time with him in his word or in prayer I begin to slip. I miss a handhold, and it feels like I am falling.
These are times when life gets busy. You know the times I'm talking about. When you have school, work, activities for you or your family, church, vacations, bills, etc. And time just gets away from you. That's the time the Devil seems to love the most. He loves poking at your hands and feet to try to get you to slip away from God.
But here's the thing, even though it's not always easy we do have a choice. When we begin to slip, maybe fall back into sin, we can choose to hold on. We can choose to reach up to God's hand that is right there to grab us.
Have you ever had a time when you felt the Spirit leading you to do something, but you chose not to do it? I know I have. One of the times that sticks in my brain the most is when I was in sixth grade. I was in a fight with my best friend. We had not been talking for at least three months.
Then one day I got off the bus to walk home. My friend lived on my street. I felt the Spirit leading me to talk with her. To try to reconnect with her. To ask for forgiveness. But my pride got in the way. She was the one who wronged me. She should be the one to say sorry. She should make the first step toward reconnecting.
I didn't talk with her that day. The next day she wasn't on the bus. The cars that were normally at her house were gone. I had known they were moving but I had no idea it would be so soon. The spirit knew. The spirit told me to reconcile with her, but I chose not to listen. Now, later I did try to say sorry, but she was not receptive to it. Who knows, if I had tried to reconcile that day, maybe she would have been my friend again. I felt sorry and ashamed for not listening to the spirits leading.
Another time I was at a church event. I was running the sound system. I had just turned the lights down for prayer and began playing a prayer playlist. The person up front was praying. Suddenly, I had a vision of someone I hadn't talked to or heard from in over a year. I saw her talking at the microphone in front of everyone. I heard her ask for prayer.
I'm not going to lie, part of me didn't want to text her even though that's what I felt the Spirit telling me to do. I didn't want to because this was a girl who had been after my boyfriend. A girl who told me she hated me. And she had cut us off when we tried to help her. But I knew I should listen.
I texted her that I felt the Spirit leading me to pray for her. Then prayed for her to grow in God and that she would be blessed. I heard back from her. She thanked me and asked me to pray for some more specific things and I did. I felt such peace and joy after I did that. And I don't know what me choosing to do that did for that girl, but we are called to follow the Spirit's leading. We may not see the outcome but it's our job to plant the seeds.
So, are you following the Spirit's leading? How can you grow closer to God so you can know what he wants you to do?
Have you ever been hiking? It can be a fun experience depending on the difficulty and distance. Well one year my husband decided he wanted to hike to flat rock at Camp YoliJwa. I told him I'd do it if we did it in the morning so we could see the sunrise and so it was cooler. He agreed and we got my siblings and some of their friends to agree to do it as well.
We started out strong. Then we began to go up steep hills. I had done the hike before, but it had been a while. And this time I wasn't in the greatest shape, my allergies were acting up, my knee was in pain, and I had asthma. I had a lot going against me, but I wanted to try to make it.
I started to feel my breath becoming ragged, so I stopped. I continued after a bit. Then after a few more minutes I could feel it happening again. I stopped and took off the warmer layer I needed because it was cold. I let someone else take the lead at that point so I could go at a slower pace. It happened one more time after a bit. I sat on a rock this time.
At that point I could feel a panic attack coming on. We were over 1 mile into a 5-mile hike. I felt like giving up and going back. I felt like I was a burden to the others and especially to my husband who stayed back with me. Then my husband asked how I was feeling. I said I felt like a burden. He said not to worry about the others but worry about myself. He said I was fighting a lot more than he was because he was just fighting being tired. He also said not to let it steal my joy.
Those were all the things I needed to hear. I had major fear in my heart of letting others down, of letting myself down. I was so focused on others and what they thought that I wasn't focused on me and my needs. I got back up. I kept walking even if it was slower than I wanted to. Eventually, I became the leader again for a time. Then we made it to flat rock. It was a nice view.
The trek back down the mountain was a lot easier. And we had some good conversations along the way. Had I decided to turn back, I would have missed out on the sights of God's creation and some bonding time with other Christians. I would have missed a lot if I would've listened to the fear and doubt. And that's how it is in most instances in life. If we listen to the fear and doubt Satan sends our way we miss out on good things. On the things God has planned for us.
So what challenges are you facing now? How can you trust God in those challenges? How can you trust God when you are afraid and doubt?
My husband and I enjoy the sport of archery. One day, after about twelve classes, I was shooting with a different bow. When you are shooting archery, you would think the goal would be to hit the bullseye every time. It is, but it takes a lot of steps to do that. If you have a sight, a tool that helps you aim, then your goal is to get a good grouping. That means you do everything consistently aiming at the middle of the target with your sight. If your sight is off, then you may not hit the bullseye. You shoot a round of three arrows then, if they group well, you move the sight based on where the grouping is.
I moved my sight this day until I couldn't move it any farther to the right. But my arrows were still going to the right of the target. Different instructors kept coming over to try to help me figure out why they kept going to the right. They adjusted my technique in different ways, but the arrows kept going right.
Finally, one of the lead instructors came over. She watched what I did. Then she said, "your technique looks good. Let me look at your bow." She looked at the bow and realized that it was the bow that was the problem. It was not meant to be shot that far for one thing. For another, it was a bow that wasn't really meant to have a sight so that made it harder. The instructor went to get me a different bow.
I was thinking about how that event related to life. Sometimes it can feel like you are doing everything right, but things don't work out. You can show love to others, serve, grow in God by reading the Bible and praying, etc. but sometimes bad things still happen. Your friend still leaves, your job is still a stressor, you are having financial troubles, or whatever the problem is.
Now, obviously, no one is perfect but there are times where you just feel like you are doing everything you can to make the situation better but it's still not being fixed. Sometimes it's not you. Sometimes it is a test or a trial. Other times maybe Satan is attacking you. Whatever the reason, take heart. Just because things don't seem to be working out doesn't mean what you are doing isn't good. Keep pressing on and into God. Trust in his perfect plan. Then, one day, you will hit that bullseye.
So, are you in a test or trial right now? Are you still doing your best to do what's right? If not, what can you do to grow in God and do what is right?
Have you ever had a time where you felt like you were just spiritually dry? I mean you know what you believe. You know God is with you. You know he's helped you through hard times. You trust him. But you just don't feel the spirit in your life the way you used to?
That happened to me after I got married. I'm not blaming my marriage but that's just the time period where I felt it most recently. I began to wonder why I felt that way. I knew Paul had talked about how people who are married focus more on the needs of their spouse and family, but it felt like there was something more there.
I knew how I felt, and if you've been there, you know how you felt, but what do you do when you feel that way? The first step I took was I prayed. I asked God why I was feeling this way. I was still going to church, doing devotionals, listening to the word, listening to Christian songs, and doing all the things to get fed spiritually but it wasn't working so I didn't understand. That's when I realized I had been going through a season of going through the motions.
You know when you just stick to the same routine but don't let it change you? When you lose focus of what should have number one priority. That's what happened. I was still doing all the things, but it was becoming a checklist instead of something that was truly digging deep into me, making me a tad uncomfortable, changing, and challenging me. That's a problem.
We should always be growing. It just depends on where we get our nutrients from as to if we are growing toward the Son or toward Satan. Instead of going through the motions I began to stop and meditate on each thing I was doing. If I read a verse, I would pause and think about how those words impacted me. If I listened to a song, I tried to let the words penetrate my heart and connect me to the Spirit. I paused, and that's something we all need to do from time to time to ensure we are not just going through the motions.
So, have you gone through a season of spiritual dryness? How can you grow in God each day?
This story is told with permission. Also, this is not a political post though it may seem like it at first.
Once a friend told me a story of a time when they were having a party around the time of an election. For the party they would all have to wear crazy hats that everyone brought; but you didn't get to pick the hat you wore. It was chosen randomly, and you had to wear it all day. Then they went around the city to different places to eat and party. The friend was given a "make America great again" hat randomly. He was told he didn't actually have to wear it, but he thought he wanted to participate and that it would be fun.
They went out to different restaurants. People would come up to him and either welcome him and say good things about him and Trump or they would come up to him and yell at him and accuse him. At first when people randomly came up to my friend, he laughed and thought it was funny. But eventually, the angry people began to outweigh the welcoming people. And what hit my friend the most is that people wouldn't even come up to have a civilized conversation with him. They would just assume he was a Trump supporter and yell at him.
About halfway through the day, he began to feel disheartened. His friends could see it was impacting him. So, when people would come up to him, his friends would get in between him and them. Then they would explain that it was part of a party and for fun. Sometimes people would listen; other times they would continue to be upset.
These people didn't know anything about my friend. They didn't know who he was, what he believed, or where he came from. All they knew was he wore a Trump hat, so they assumed he believed in Trump and supported him.
Now, I'm sure this could have happened had someone worn a different political slogan hat. But the point that hurt my friend the most was that there was not even an effort for a conversation with him. No one came up to ask him what he believed, they just assumed. And all the negativities got to my friend. If he wasn't a believer and didn't have a joyful deposition, he told me he may have gone home and thought about committing suicide.
What has happened to us as a culture? When did what someone wears become more important than the fact that this person is a human being? Why do we choose to berate people because of who they are, what they look like, and what they believe? Whatever happened to having a conversation with someone to get to know them instead of judging them based on surface level things? Do you do these things or are you showing God's love to all no matter who they are, what they wear, and what they believe?
Have you ever had a time when you were going through something difficult? Just something bad happened. Like something that could change the course of your life. That's what happened to me one summer right before I went on vacation.
This was my first vacation where I wasn't volunteering in years. I was going to South Carolina with my boyfriend to stay at his parents’ house. Honestly, I wasn't that nervous about that fact. But it could have also been due to the fact that I was preoccupied with this problem. We went there and I enjoyed my free time, but the problem was still in the back of my mind. I knew I'd have to face it when I went home.
Sunday rolled around and we went to church. The pastor said he felt the spirit telling him that someone was there who needed to let something go in order to continue in their purpose for God. Now, I don't like going forward in front of people. Yes, I've preached before but that's different. This is going up and asking for help. I don't like bothering people or being perceived as weak.
I felt led to go forward but my brain was fighting my spirit. Eventually my spirit won, and I went up. I bowed at the alter and just poured out my spirit to God. A lady, who was one of their prayer partners, laid her hand on me and asked me what was going on. I filled her in on some of the problem. She prayed over me. She prayed that I would give the fight over to God. I hadn't even told her all the story and she prayed specifics about what was going on. After, I felt peace. The problem was still there but by letting someone in on it when God called me to, I had peace for the first time in a while.
So, when problems come up do you follow the leading of the spirit? Are you giving the fights in your life to God?
In the movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings there is one character who seems to be not very good at his job and a little crazy. Denethor the 2 was the steward of Gondor. His job was to look after the kingdom of Gondor because there was no king. Now, if you've seen the movies, you know that Aragorn, a character in the fellowship, is the rightful king of Gondor. He just isn’t quite ready to take the throne.
Denethor the 2 had two sons. He favored the one over the other. He ate food while the people in his charge were under siege. He sent his second son, whom he treaded like a slave in some ways, out to face an impossible task. He refused to call for aid for someone to come help his kingdom. When his son came back injured, he didn’t have a doctor help him. He just assumed he was dead. Then, as the orcs entered his kingdom, he attempted to burn himself and his son alive.
Denethor the 2 was a very selfish man. He wasn’t using the resources he was given to help his people. Perhaps it was because he knew his reign as steward was coming to an end. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t doing his job.
Now that I've told you all about Denethor's shortcomings you may be tempted to judge him. Before you do that, check yourself. You are a steward as well. Maybe not to a kingdom, but you are a steward, nonetheless. 1 Peter 4:10 says, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."
God gives us gifts. In fact, he’s given us everything we own. Because he gave it to us, we don’t own it. We are borrowing it. God gave it to us to steward for the time we are here on earth. We can’t take it with us when we die. We only have it while we are here. Thus, we must treat what we have been given with respect. We must treat it as a gift.
So, how are you doing with stewarding what God has given you? How can you view everything you own as Gods and remember that daily?
Many people have someone they look up to. Someone they want to be like. Someone who has characteristics they want to have. Who is that for you?
I don't know who that is for you, but I hope it is someone with godly characteristics. Let me ask you this: do you have someone who you don't want to be like? I'm not even talking about someone who is following the ways of the world, though I hope you are not following them. I am talking about someone that people say you act a lot like, but you don't want to be like. Maybe it's a sibling or a parent. You don't want to be like them because you want to be unique, or you see things in them that you don't like. Then what happens is you get so focused on not being like that person that it becomes a problem. The problem is what, or who, you are focused on.
When you are focused on not becoming, or being, like someone then you are not focused on who you should be like. Who are you to be like? The answer is Jesus. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." We are to imitate Christ. When we are focused on being or not being like someone else then we miss who we should be like. We should be focused on Jesus and his work. We should try to be like him instead of focused on trying to be like other people.
So, who are you trying to emulate? How can you focus on being more like Jesus today?
You are walking along minding your own business. Suddenly, a large area of blackness is out before you. It calls to you. The doubts in your head rise out if it. Your fears claw up the side and into your head. Anger begins to boil in you. It's in you and calling out to you from the abyss as well. The anger toward yourself for doubting, for sinning. The anger from what that person did to you. It's there and it begins to consume you. Then the guilt comes. How could you give into doubt, fear, and anger? Depression falls on you like a waterfall.
The abyss is calling. It would be so easy to just step in. Just let it take you. It is so much easier than fighting.
Or, perhaps you are already in the abyss. You just keep falling in the darkness. What's the point of it all anyway? But you face a choice.
You can choose to fall in. You can choose to keep falling. Or you can choose to grab the wall and climb out.
The first step is that choice to reach out and grab the wall. But the climb won't be easy. Also, you can't do it on your own. You must call to God. He's the only one who can help you take each step out of the abyss. The abyss is different for all of us. But what we have in common is we need to admit we cannot get out on our own. Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." God holds us up if we choose to follow him, believe in him, and ask for help.
So, what's your abyss? How can you take steps to get out today?
She received me as a gift from her parents at the young age of sixteen. This girl had seen a lot of life, but I had not. I was on her left ring finger for many years since then. Through those years I have been through many events with her. I was a visual reminder of a promise made long ago. A reminder to continue to choose God each day. I am her purity ring.
Now, this girl had lived somewhat of a sheltered life compared to some. She didn’t know swear words and hadn’t been exposed to many of the darkness’s of the world. But, in time, she would be. High school friends from soccer would open her eyes to some things. I got a bit beat up then. In college she learned more about the world’s darkness. She watched some movies that were not glorifying to God and a few more nicks hit me.
She began to grow in God more as her college years went by. Eventually, I moved from her left ring finger to her right ring finger as she began to question her worth. She questioned if anyone would ever love her or care. Thankfully, she did not lose herself or me. But there were times of trials when she was weak that she would watch or read something that gave me a bit of a scuff. Yet, on I stayed even with a few marks.
After college, her kindergarten students would question if she was married. To them, having a ring on means you are married. It was interesting watching my owner try to explain why she wore me to five-year-olds! Years later she coached at a goalkeeper camp. Her middle school girls asked why she wore me. She told them that I was a purity ring. None of the girls knew what I represented. In shock, my owner explained what purity meant. One of the girls said, “I wish my uncle would have one of those.” It hit my owner hard. It made her sad that people are not being taught about purity and the promises of the Lord.
A year later she was coaching at a college. One of her goalies needed a break so she went to step in. As she was trying to step in, she was taking me off so her finger would not get jammed with me on. Suddenly, a ball was shot toward her, and I went flying. She was engrossed in the game and did not realize I had fallen on the turf!
After practice, she went to put me back on, but I was not in her pocket! She started to look around on the turf. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Finally, she crouched down and saw my gleam in the sunset. She picked me up and one of her players came over. “Did you find it?” She asked. “Yes,” my owner replied. “I am glad you did not lose it. I know it has sentimental value to you,” the player smiled. My owner looked down at me and smiled. I could tell she was happy to have not lost me, the physical reminder of a promise she made long ago.
Today, as my owner types this, I am still on her finger. You may not be able to read my text that says “true love waits” as much as you could years ago. I may have a few scuffs here and there, both physical and spiritual. Yet, the promise made remains the same. Each day my owner puts me on, she makes a choice. A choice to choose to follow the way of the Lord, not the way of the world. A choice to be pure in body. A choice to do her best to stay pure in mind. Even if she fails at that, she knows that Christ died for her so she can be pure in Him. Purity is a choice.
I am a preschool teacher in a public childcare center. Thus, I do not do much preaching/evangelizing with my actual words there. However, I have also been involved in my church’s Sunday school programs, Vacation Bible Schools, and church camp ministries. Because of this, I learned how to teach younger children the truth about God. One experiment that really helped open the eyes of the kids I was working with was an experiment using bleach.
I remember talking with the kids about how we are born into the world with a sin nature. We are unclean like this jar. The jar had the word sin on it with water and food coloring (or iodine) in it. Then, when we sin, we become unclean as well. I poured some of the sin container into a different jar labeled “you.” This made the jar labeled “you” to become red. No matter what I do, I cannot get the red to separate from the clear water that was in it before.
Then I took at jar with bleach in it labeled “Jesus” and poured some of it into the “you” jar. When you accept Christ as your savior, he comes into your life and cleanses you. I explained this to the kids and asked if anyone wanted to do that. Many of the children did so. I prayed and as I was praying, the jar labeled “you” became clear. When I said, “amen.” The kids’ eyes lit up when they saw that the water was clean again. It was an amazing example of God’s work.
The last thing I did was reminded the kids that Jesus was tempted to sin just like we are each day. I poured the rest of the jar labeled “sin” with the food coloring in it into the “Jesus” jar with the bleach in it. But Jesus did not sin. So, the jar labeled “Jesus” stayed clear!
Jesus can make you pure again no matter what you have done. He is your advocate, brother, and friend. He loves you just as you are, warts and all. Because of that love, he died for you so you could be with him in heaven.
So, what does this experiment mean to you? How can you practice purity each day? Watch the Eustace clip below and think about how it relates to purity. How does the clip relate to you?
Some of you may be wondering, “is it too late for me? Am I too far gone that I could ever be washed clean, be made pure?” Some of you may have made the choice to sin when you didn’t even know what you were doing was wrong, or a sin. Others of you may have made a conscientious choice. You knew what you were doing was wrong but you chose to gratify your carnal desires for a temporary high. Is it too late for you?
Here’s the thing. Sin is like a cage, or a jail cell. You are inside it thinking that you are on top of the world but it is a temporary fix. It’s like putting a band aid on a cut then cutting it open again yourself. You are trapped but it doesn’t seem like you are because it’s your choice to keep sinning. Now, you may be saying, “if this is something I can choose to escape then why am I in the cage or jail that is locked?” The door isn’t locked. The door is wide open. You just have to choose to take one step, then another, and another until you are out and free.
Who opened the door you may be asking? Jesus did. He died to take on the blackness of your sin. If you accept him as your savior and cleanse yourself in his blood then you are free. The chains, the cell, the bondage of sin holds you no more. It cannot be that easy, can it? 1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He forgives our sins and cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness. That time you lied about where you were going. The time you stole candy from the store. When you bought that dope to get high. When you were in your room alone looking at porn. The time you lost your patience and yelled at your family in anger. ALL OF IT IS WASHED AWAY!
But it is your choice. You can choose to stay in the jail with the door open. Or you can choose God. You can choose purity.
So, what is your choice? If you have already chosen purity, how can your continue to grow in God and stay pure?
Okay, stay with me on this one. Obviously, there is the simple answer of “God tells us to remain pure.” That is true and a good enough reason why we should stay pure. But that reason hasn’t seemed to convince everyone in the world as many have chosen the path of sin rather than purity.
The thing is many of us have fallen so far away from the Lord that we think that this life is all we have. If this life is all we have then should we not carpi diem? Or live life to the fullest? Should we eat, drink and be merry? If this is all we have and all we believe in, then that makes sense.
But God’s word tells us that death is not the end. In God’s great grace, he sent his son to be a perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. He did this so we could spend eternal life with him, so long as we accept Christ as our savior, believe in him, and confess that we are sinners. John 3:36 tells us “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” God is a God of love. He loves us all. He wants us to all be with him in eternity. Yet, he cannot be with anything unholy. If we are not washed clean by Jesus’ blood, then we will face God’s wrath.
Some people believe lies. Lies like: “this life is all there is.” “God could never forgive all I have done.” “No one could ever love me because I am unworthy.” “Hell is where all my friends are going, and it will be a party. I don’t want to leave my friends.” They make jokes. They feel depressed. They feel alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Even if you take away the argument for God telling us to stay pure, you cannot take away the argument that if there is life after death, and if God tells us there is only one way to gain that life, you must make that choice to follow him or be doomed.
We must follow the words of Psalm 119:37: “turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” The things and pleasures of this world are temporary. Even if you are the richest man in the world, even if you have sports cars, a mansion, gold, jewels, the latest technology, and more but you don’t have God you have nothing. You cannot take anything you have on this earth with you into eternity. Money, drugs, alcohol, and other things that bring you temporary pleasure are destroying you. You are losing yourself to a world that lies; you are losing yourself to worthless things. But that’s your choice. You can choose the temporary pleasures of this world, or the pleasures of eternity for all time.
So, are you staying pure? Have you made the choice to follow Christ or yourself? How can you turn your eyes from worthless things today?
Now we are finally to the part where we talk about the purity that most people think of when they hear that word: purity in couple relationships. When you finally meet someone, you feel you can spend the rest of your life with, it will feel right. God created humans with two genders: male and female. He created their parts to fit together. He created sex.
Before I go any farther discussing sexual purity, I want to put in a PSA here. I went to a public high school then a Christian college. In high school I learned about sex and how it works. When I got to college, some of the girls in my dorm went to Christian schools their whole life. Some of them did not know how sex works. They didn’t even know about their own bodies! When I asked them what they were taught about sex they said, “not much.” Most of them replied with the idea that they were told sex is icky and we shouldn’t talk about it.
Mouth drop on the floor here. If sex isn’t good, why did God create it to be bonding? Why did he create it and make it feel good to do? Why did he make it as the way to reproduce? Sex is good, in the context of marriage. And yet, churches don’t teach that. Christian schools don’t teach that. Parents don’t teach their children that. In all my years serving as a soccer coach at a Christian college only one player who I have asked what she was taught about sex had a good answer. Her parents taught her that sex is beautiful in the context of marriage. That it should be saved for when a man and a woman love one another and are married. That’s what we should be teaching others. Thus ends my soapbox.
Relationships nowadays are very different than relationships back in Bible times. In Bible times, there was no dating. Today we have dating, dtr, engagement, then finally marriage. And, there’s no set time as to how long each of those things can take. Thus, why staying pure in relationships can be so hard. You are spending time getting to know someone to see if you want to spend the rest of your life with them. The more time you spend, the closer you get. The closer you get, the CLOSER you want to be (if you catch my drift).
This is when temptation comes into play. God has made it clear in his word that we are not to be sexually immoral. 1 Corinthians 7:2 says: “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” He doesn’t say each man should have a friend with benefits, a concubine, or a prostitute. Each man should have ONE wife. God has also made it clear the dangers of having sex outside of marriage. Each time you have sex with someone, you are bonding with them. You are connected. You are one. All this can be seen in chemical reactions in your brain. There is also the danger of STDs when you sleep with more than one person.
Knowing all of this, how do we stay pure even when it is hard? Psalm 119:9 holds the answer. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” We have discussed how purity begins in the heart. If you have a heart for God, you will read his word to get to know him. As you get to know him, you will not only have more of a heart for him, but you will also know his word more. His word can help you guard your heart. You can pray when you feel tempted or weak. I know it sounds like a simple answer, but it doesn’t mean it is easy. God doesn’t always ask us to do what is easy. He asks us to do what is right.
So, are you pursuing purity in your relationships? How can you grow closer to God?
Many of you know I enjoy Disney movies. They have catchy songs, and you can pull good messages out of many of them. Yet, I don't agree with the basic doctrine of Disney which is, "follow your heart." Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" We are not to follow our hearts. Yet, when we become Christian and try to follow God, the desires God's heart should begin to become the desires of our hearts.
And yet, we are still imperfect. We still sin. Many of our sins come from our mind. We are tempted to, like a dog, go back to our vomit or sin. Many of our sins have to do with our eyes. We see something we want; we think/know we want it, then we face our choice. Will we sin or not? Oh yes, we may go through a struggle in our minds of pros and cons, but we know the truth. We know the answer. We know we should not sin.
Even more so, we should be growing in God so much that battles in our minds don't go on as long. Why? Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Our thoughts are not to be on the things of this world. Everything here is temporary. The only things that matter in eternity is our soul and the souls of others. Whatever work we do to gain things here isn't worth it. The work we do for the kingdom, that matters.
That's why our thoughts should be pure. We should be focused on the excellent things of the Lord. We should wake up thinking: "God please help me serve you and your kingdom today." Then, when we face battles of the mind, we can keep our eyes and our thoughts fixed on God.
So, are you following Philippians 4:8? When you face temptation and battles in your mind what do you do? How can you keep your eyes and thoughts focused on God?
Purity starts with the heart. There's a reason why when we are asked to pray "the prayer" to accept Christ that we are asked to "ask Christ into our heart." If you have ever heard of the salvation bracelet, you know the first color is black. Black represents our sin. We are all sinners. We all need to be cleansed.
Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." How do we get this clean heart? Do we try to stop sinning? Well, that's a start. But we cannot cleanse ourselves. It's like when something sticky gets on the floor. We try to clean it with just water and soap, but it doesn't work. Sometimes we need something stronger, like goo be gone to clean it.
Jesus' blood is our sin be gone. When we accept him in our heart and ask him to forgive our sins, he does it. We are clean. We are white as snow. We are pure! Does that mean we should keep sinning? No, Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" That's where purity in the heart comes in. We are to grow in God. We are to try to follow him. That means we are to try to stop sinning.
Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I don't know about you, but I want to see God. I want my heart to be pure. I want my motives and desires to be God's motives and desires. I want his will to be done. We should all, as Christians, be at the point where we want to reflect God's glory so much so that he is seen in us. That when people look at us, they don't see us so much as they see God. Not in an idol like way but like in a, "you needed water, and I gave it to you, but it was God giving it to you through me." We don't deserve the glory. He does.
So, are you pure in heart? How can you follow God each day? How are you reflecting His glory?
Normally when someone thinks of purity, they automatically think of sexual purity. In other words, not having sex before marriage. But purity is about more than not having sex.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines pure as "free from dust, dirt, or taint." That doesn't mention sex at all. But it does relate to sex. Yet, to be pure, we need to be righteous. We need to be clean. We are free from dust, dirt, or taint. This means we are free from sin.
James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Ooo, a phrase that hits hard for me in this passage is "cleanse your hands." If you have ever worked with kids, you know many of them don't know how to wash their hands. It's nasty. Their hands have dirt, grime, and germs all over them. They need help to clean them.
We also need help to clean our hands from sin. We try to be righteous and follow God, but we fall short. That's why Jesus died: to cleanse us from our sin. We need to draw near to him. We need to learn about him. We need to try to stop sinning, so our hearts stay clean and pure.
See, purity applies to all areas of life. Are we pure in our actions, our words, our relationships? In our hearts? Some of us act pure and holier-than-thou in our lives. That's not helping the kingdom. We need to be authentic with others. We cannot continue to praise Jesus on Sunday but go on sinning the rest of the week. The double life isn't helping you. It isn't helping spread the Gospel. It isn't helping anything. Purity happens every day, every minute, every second. Purity is a choice.
So, are you living a double life? Are you practicing purity? How can you open a conversation on purity today?
"Our goal is to not kiss until we are engaged." Once I said that to my friends their shocked faces surfaced. They already knew my relationship with Nate was not going to be a typical one, at least in the way the world thinks as typical. We both knew we wanted to stay pure till marriage. In fact, since I was in high school, I have worn a purity ring every day (other than when I played soccer, you do not want to jam your finger with a ring on, trust me).
Thus, Nate and I made a choice to set our boundary at holding one another close. Why there? Does the Bible say anything against kissing before marriage? No, but neither does it say anything about dating. In Bible times, many marriages were arranged. Some may have married for love but many times the couples wouldn't spend any alone time before the wedding.
Here is what the Bible says in Hebrews 13:4 "Let the marriage bed be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." The marriage bed is to be held in honor. What does that mean? That means if you do anything with someone else and you aren't married, you aren't honoring the marriage bed. Each time you have sex with someone not only are you creating an invisible emotional bond with them, but you are also possibly sleeping with someone else's significant other.
Now you may be asking, what does that have to do with kissing? Well, unless you are like a friend of mine from college who used to think that when her parents kissed it made a baby, not much. But God created us to be relational beings. He created sex as something good, in a marriage between a man and a woman.
But 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us of something that has to do with kissing. It says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." When you are physically attracted, or in love, to someone your bodies will want to do what God created them to do. There's only one boundary between kissing and sex and that further physical touch. To not be tempted, Nate and I decided to put in a barrier, so we don't go further.
We are sort of doing what Eve did in the garden. She said they could not eat the fruit or touch it or they would due. God never said they couldn't touch the fruit. She put in this barrier so she would not fall into temptation and sin. And you can see how well that worked out.
Will some people think we are strange? Yes, but that's no different than how we are viewed other days. We are set apart. We are in the world but not of it. This doesn't make us any better than others. It just means we are trying to live a different life to reflect God's glory.
So, are you staying pure in your relationship? What temptation do you face? How can you reflect God's glory today?
One thing I enjoy doing is acting. It doesn’t have to be in a play, though I have done that. Many times, if you see me teach, you will see me act like other people, use accents, quote movies, and more. I’m not going to lie; I enjoy pretending to be someone else even if it just for a short time. You know, you can get caught up in acting like another character.
But the word character has more than one meaning. There are characters like a book or movie characters. Then there is character like what you do when no one is watching. There are times I will pretend to be someone else when I am by myself for my own entertainment. But most of the time I am with someone else who I am trying to get to laugh, or I am just in the mood to act like someone else.
Now there is no problem with pretending to be someone or something else. In fact, I encourage my students to do that because it sparks their creativity and helps them grow cognitively. The problem occurs when we pretend to be someone, we are not all the time. Or when we choose not to have character when no one is watching.
Proverbs 10:9 says, “whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” Part of having character is being honest. It is being real and authentic. It is choosing to do the right thing even when no one is watching. If we don’t do those things not only are we sinning, but we are not being who God made us to be. God created us and loves us. He made us unique and special. If we pretend to be someone we are not then we are going against our creator. That’s why we must choose integrity, authenticity, and character.
So, are you choosing to have character each day? How can you be yourself with others and rest in who God made you to be?
