Purity In Action
1. Respect the deep significance of physical intimacy
Many non-Christians view sex as a bodily function on the level of scratching another person's back.
they engage in sex whenever and with whomever they want. while this lifestyle is affront to biblical values, many Christians treat lesser expressions of kissing, holding and fondling another person as no big deal. while we may hold higher standards than our pagan neighbors, I'm afraid we, too, have lost sight of the deeper significance of sexual intimacy.
God designed our sexuality as a physical expression of the one-ness of marriage.
God guards it carefully and places many stipulations on it because He considers it extremely precious.
a man and a woman commit their lives to each other in marriage gain the right to express themselves sexually to each other. but if you're not married to someone, you have no claim on that person's body, no right to sexual intimacy. maybe you agree with this and plan to save sex for marriage. but in your opinion, you view "making out" activities such as kissing, necking, and fondling as no big deal.
but we need to ask ourselves a serious question. if another person's body doesn't belong to us(that is, we're not married) what right do we have to treat the people we date any differently than a married person would treat someone who wasn't his or her spouse?
"but," you might say, "that's completely different." is it really?
our culture has programmed us to think that singleness grants us license to fool around, to try out people emotionally and sexually. since we're not married to anyone in particular, we can do what we want with anyone in general. God has a very different view. "honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband,"(Hebrews 13:4). this honor for the sacredness of sexuality between husband and wife starts now, not just after the wedding day. respect for the institution of marriage should motivate us to protect it from violation while we're single.

2. set your standards too high.
in the early days of his ministry, Billy Graham experience deep concern over the public's distrust of evangelist. he realized that most people who distrusted evangelist did so because those evangelist lack integrity, particularly in the area of sexuality. to combat this, he and the close circle of men who ran the crusades avoided opportunities to be alone with women who weren't their wives. think about this for a moment. what a inconvenience! did these men really fear that they'd commit adultery the moment they found themselves alone with a woman? weren't they going a little too far?
for long time the church has been shaken and demoralized by the immorality of many Christian leaders.
but now, even unbelievers honor the name of Billy Graham, Mr. Graham has earned the respect of the world by his faithfulness and his integrity.
he set his standards too high-he went above and beyond the call of righteousness.
we can only attain righteousness by doing two things-destroyed sin in its embryonic stage and fleeing temptation.
to cut off the opportunity for sin at its root, and to fled from even the possibility of compromise.
God calls us to the same zeal for righteousness in premarital relationship. what exactly does that look like? for me and many other people i know, it has meant rejecting typical dating. i go out with group of friends; i avoid one-on-one dating because it encourages physical intimacy and places me in an isolated setting with a girl.
can't i handle it? don't i have any self control? yeah, maybe i could handle it, but that's not the point. God says "flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the lord out of a pure heart"(2 timothy 2:22). i won't stick around to see how much temptation i can take. God is not impressed with my ability to stand up to sin. He's more impressed by the obedience i show when i run from it.
cut off sin at its root. until you're married-and i mean until you've walked down that aisle and exchanged vows-don't act as if your bodies belong to each other.
maybe you think i'm taking this idea way too far. maybe you're saying, "you've got to be joking. one little kiss won't have me hurtling toward certain sin."
let me encourages you to give this idea a little more thought. for just a moment, consider the possibility that even the most innocent form of sexual expression outside of marriage could be dangerous.
physical interaction encourages us to start something we're not supposed to finish, awakening desires we're not allowed to consummate, turning on passions we have to turn off. what foolishness! God designed our sexuality to operate within the protection and commitment of marriage. in marriage, things are supposed to progress-things are allowed to get "out of hand".
and i really believe that before marriage we can't keep from abusing God's gift of sex unless we choose to stay off the path altogether.
tolerated sin is pampered sin-it grows and gain strength. only by keeping our standards too high and killing sin in its infantile stage will we avoid its destruction.
set your standards too high, you will never regret purity.
"put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires..."(Colossians 3:5)

3. make the purity of others a priority
one of the best ways to maintain a pure life to watch out for the purity of others. what can you do to protect your brothers and sisters in the LORD from impurity? what can you say to encourage them to keep their hearts set in the direction of righteousness?.
the support and protection you can provide to same-sex friend is important, but the protection you can give to opposite-sex friend is invaluable.
support each other to gain holiness and purity


God's love for the impure does not cease, but their ability to enjoy His love does.
turned from God's presence we are completely unprotected from the marauding destruction of sin.
without purity, God's gift of sexuality becomes a dangerous game.
without purity, the mind becomes a slave to depravity, tossed about by every sinful craving and imagination.

"who may ascend the hill of the LORD? who may stand in His holy place? he who has clean hands and a pure heart..."(psalm 24:3-4)
are you ready to deny yourself the pleasures of the moment to live a pure, God-focused life?
may your love for him fuel a lifelong, passionate pursuit of righteousness.

God is impressed with obedience