MoS: Purity

Musings on Singleness: Purity

I find it slightly humorous that the Bible tells young people to be an “example of the believers” in purity according to 1 Timothy 4:12. In a time of our lives when hormones are running wild and some religious sects find it acceptable for young people to “sow their wild oats,” God’s standard is set higher!

With that in mind, we should take our pursuit of purity very seriously. 2 Timothy 2:22 says to “Flee youthful lusts.” Flee means literally to run away! If you have somehow found yourself placed in a situation that would compromise your purity, do not stay and talk about it—run away! That is the honorable and strong thing to do. Joseph did it in Genesis 39, even running so fast that he left his coat behind. Now there was a man intent on pleasing God!

You ought to set standards for yourself, to guard your heart and mind from sexual lust. Maintaining purity takes preparation and strength to walk away from un-edifying situations. People have taken some extreme measures to keep their minds and hearts clean. I know unmarried women who can't and won't watch chick flicks, because it inspires jealousy and feelings that make contentment difficult. Personally, I tend to cover my eyes or look away during kissing scenes. I know---so immature! lol But I figure, if I can't kiss anyone, I don't wanna watch anyone else kissing. I don’t think kissing scenes are necessarily evil. But sometimes, I just can’t handle it.

Everyone is different, so I’m not going to tell you where the line is. However, I do believe there are some Scriptural principles that can be applied generally.

I've said this before and I say it again. It is NEVER right to watch anyone take part in sexual activities. It seems harsh written in black-and-white English, but this seems to be easily justified in the media-driven morally bankrupt world that we live in these days. I'm not just talking about pornography!! (though that is evil!!) I'm talking about those scenes of undressing and implied sex in PG-13 movies. I'm talking about prime-time television that includes endless sexual references and again, undressing and implied sex. The justification comment that I always hear is "But you don't actually SEE anything!" Does that really matter? Your mind is already led astray by the implication. Your heart has already been led into lust. Why split hairs about it?

Or, another justification, "but it's between married people!" Let me try to be tactfully blunt here. It would be sinful to invade any married couple's bedroom and watch them have sex. Watching it on a television is no different. Not only is the marriage bed to be kept pure, I believe it should be guarded. Marriage is a covenant between God and that man & woman. No one else gets involved.

While we're talking about purity in mind, we might as well talk about reading materials. For sure, we should avoid any "porneia" or sexually themed materials. For girls, there are alot of temptations in this area because the world equates romance with sex. This includes popular novels, like The Notebook, even many so-called "Christian" romance novels are waaaay too impure for me, and also trashy "lifestyle" magazines like Cosmopolitan or Redbook, etc. These magazines are often of the soft-core pornography variety, talking about how to have sex and why to have sex and many many things that are NOT edifying to someone trying to live as an example in purity.

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers, God will judge.”
Hebrews 13:4

It seems that the endless barrage of sexual material that is leveled against us in this world. Even unknowingly, it cheapens our view of sex. And in turn, it cheapens our view of God’s holy institution of marriage.

"Keep the marriage bed pure" starts during singleness. It begins with the mind ( for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he) and ends with the actions. Do whatever is necessary to keep yourself pure. Even run away! :) Now that is honorable.