Purity Is Not Just Virginity

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“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.”  (Psalm 119:9)

                Christian culture avoids it. Many pastors will never even mention it at the pulpit. You won’t hear your peers talk about it. Yet it is one of the highest requirements the Lord instructs us in; Purity. To announce the biblical principle of saving intimacy for marriage offends people. Sex has become a bad word among believers. Overall the church (not a capital ‘C’) has fallen into the same rut as our near-pagan society. Nevertheless, guys and girls alike, The LORD still asks us to be pure. Paul writes to the Church to be waiting, spotless and without blemish, pure, for the return of Christ. [2 Peter 3:14] Now before you get too overwhelmed with this heavy knowledge, you need to know one more thing. Purity is so much more than just virginity. By the time we’re done, saving sex for marriage might just be the easy part. To be and stay pure as the Lord requires we must be wholly outwardly pure, inwardly pure and mentally pure.

                Outward Purity, or ‘physical purity’, is probably the most well known and most acknowledged among the Christian culture.  Many professing parents even encourage their teens to wear “promise rings” as a tangible, outward, sign for others to note. However, if we were to look into the Bible for guidance as to what, specifically, such purity looked like in God’s sight, would our generation of ‘teens’ really want to make such a “promise”? As stated earlier, purity is more than virginity; and if this is to be the case, then what is it fully? Let’s see for ourselves, shall we? Paul instructs the Corinthian Church (Capital ‘C’, mind you; this means that it’s talking to you as well, if you’re a part of the body of Christ)  that “We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.  In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind… We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love…” (2 Corinthians 6:3-4, 6 NLT)  In other words we are to, in “everything we do”, prove that we are “true ministers of God” “by our purity” so that “no one will stumble”. Interesting.

 In what ways could we cause others to stumble? How about the way that we dress? Guys, I’m talking to you solely now, I don’t want to see your chest. I don’t even want to see such a tight shirt that I can’t help but notice your chest! It makes me go places mentally that I don’t want to. Ladies, your turn; I don’t want to see your chest either! Period. I could get more specific and I could also name off a few other places and things that I don’t want to see, both for ladies and gents alike, but that’s not my specific point here. All I’m saying is this, if you dress in such a way as to reveal large portions of your body, you’re not saving too much to give to your future spouse’s eyes alone.  You’re basically allowing every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Jane, Sue and Cindy) to possibly have mental intimacy with what you’re showing off or, in the very, very, least, you’re attracting a crowd of people that are not uplifting to your faith-life. I don’t mean to be so blunt here, and yet, in the same sense, I do.

Since we were talking about the people that we attract, I think I’ll make that our next step in outward purity. Scripture tells us that “bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)   Hmm, corrupted morals. That certainly doesn’t sound very pure to me! How can we claim the label of purity if we are surrounded by moral-corrupting people? Our friends greatly influence us! Think for a moment of whom it is that you call a friend, how do they affect your morals, and then ultimately, how do they affect your purity?

I’ll bring up one more point on outward purity. (Don’t sigh in relief yet.)Jesus Himself tells us that “…out of the [overflow] of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) So if my mouth is pouring out foul language and disrespect, does not this mean that all that nastiness is in my heart? When I first realized this I literally thought “ouch!” Whatever I allow to come through my lips is a reflection of the state that I allow my heart to be in. If your heart is full of filth, your words will be as well. Someone who claims to be outwardly pure cannot have a mouth that spews garbage.

Another division of purity, as a whole, is Inward Purity. I also like to refer to this one as “spiritual purity”. We have already touched briefly on some parts of this, but just this point alone could literally take forever to iron out the details. Basically, the state that you are in spiritually with The Lord directly affects the state of your purity in general. The issue with this is that every time we choose to sin, we throw purity out the window in the process. Christ, when He defeated death through His resurrection, gave us the victory over sin and the potential for perfection. However, it’s our choices and choosing to continue in bondage to sin; but that’s enough on those details for now. The question now becomes “How can a young person keep pure?” The answer, in and of itself, sounds simple, and we can even find it in the latter part of the verse; “…by living according to Your (God’s) Word (the Bible).” (Psalm 119:9) Like I said simple, right? Not really. Just for starters to “live according” to God’s Word means that everything we do in our life needs to parallel what Scripture tells us to do. Everything.

Here’s the problem with that, Paul tells the Church in Rome (again, capital ‘C’) that even he “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” (Romans 7:18-19)  I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, if Paul struggles with staying spiritually pure, then I’m done for! So, what hope do we have? Well, Paul doesn’t stop with that depressing statement; he goes on a few verses later to say “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1-2) We are free. We have power. We have Jesus! When Jesus came to earth, He died to save us, He rose to redeem us, and He left to give us opportunity. He knew that we wouldn’t be able to have perfect perfection, and He doesn’t require that of us. That’s why He sacrificed Himself. Yet He does expect heart-intentional devotion and persevering-effort towards that goal (perfection). This is where our spiritual purity ties in.

For starters, when we do wrong, and we will, we need be repentant. Not just the “I’m sorry” kind, but the kind of repentance that is truly upset over the sin, seeks The Lord’s forgiveness (and that of whomever else’s it might require), and earnestly tries to not repeat the mistake. By doing this we are, in essence, bringing our stained, sin-filled, garments to the Lord and handing them over for Him to truly clean them; time and time again. He offers to purify them, and us, for us. [Isaiah 1:18] We are also given a pretty detailed list of what our life should look like (a reference to outward purity) as a result of what our heart is becoming. Romans 12 (and much of the New Testament in general really) gives a great summation of this. Characteristics such as genuine love, an abhorrence of evil, patience in tribulation, and constancy in prayer are all inward traits that sow outward results of a true, purity-seeking, believer.  Finally, we are warned to “Guard your heart ABOVE ALL ELSE, for it determines the course of your life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Inward purity, even purity in any sense, requires a level of defensiveness. We need to be aware of situations or people that may potentially pose a threat to our purity. Jesus always sent his disciples out in pairs [Luke 10:1] largely, I believe, to keep one another accountable and in protection of their purity, which we now know involves way more than just physical stuff.  A child of God must always be on guard for the evil that lurks.  To us nowadays, that evil could be on the internet, through the people we’re spending time with, in books we read, the music we listen to, what comes on television (even those blasted commercials) or even just where we allow our thoughts to wander.  We need to guard our hearts people!

The final form of purity is mental purity, or purity of the mind. Most of any spiritual battle takes place within our mind.  Our mind is a powerful thing and, because of that, it is one of the Devil’s prime play grounds. If he can make our mind believe something, anything, even slightly altered from what God says, then we are not focusing on God anymore and that’s exactly how he wants us.  This is how he got to Eve in the Garden of Eden; he twisted God’s words and played tricks on her mind. [Genesis 3] He later tried to do the same scheme with Jesus during that period after his 40 days of fasting and prayer. [Matthew 4] Eve crumbled, Jesus excelled. What was the difference? Jesus was prepared, Eve was vulnerable. To expound upon this slightly, Jesus had just spent 40 days fasting, praying and completely focusing on the Lord. He was, although physically weak, spiritually (and therefore mentally) ready for whatever Satan had to throw at Him.

Am I saying that we all need to devote the rest of our lives doing exactly as Jesus did during that 40 day period? Well, no; and yet, yes. We are not going to be able to spend every waking moment in complete fast and prayer; although small periods of this throughout our lives are necessary and biblical, it’s just not possible to do it 24/7. Besides, doing so would also take us away from other Christian responsibilities that the Lord gave to us, such as building the kingdom and fellowshipping with other believers.  It is true though that our spiritual life will only ever be as strong as our prayer life. So if we are not daily spending time with the Lord; hourly leaning on Him; and moment by moment calling upon Him, not only for His help, but in praise to Him and for Who He is; then when we get invaded mentally by Satan and his temptations WE WILL FAIL! We need to be intentional about building a strong relationship with the Lord. He is willing, we’re the problem.

The Lord, in addition to a growing relationship, offers us another tool to fend off the Devil’s mind games. He has given us a whole set of armor. Not just any armor, spiritual armor made specifically for fighting spiritual battles. Does it get any better than that? Yes; actually it does! Each piece has a specific purpose and Ephesians 6 breaks those down for us; The belt of truth for discernment, the breastplate of righteousness as a reminder of where it is we stand and how we got there, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith made up of God’s promises to us and His past provisions for us to use against Satan’s “fiery arrows” (temptations) as Jesus did, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is literally God’s Word. [Ephesians 6:13-17]  When we wield each of these pieces effectively there is no reason to lose a mind battle. God always provides the tools for purity, does He not?

We have only just scratched the surface of God’s design for staying outwardly pure, inwardly pure, and mentally pure.  Without a desire and effort to be pure, no matter if you’re young or old, married or single, your status as a believer must be questioned. Each item mentioned, in any of the categories, is one that can be transferred into whatever stage of life this finds you in. Now I’m not saying that anyone is going to be able to do this whole purity thing perfectly. We all mess up; and often. Nor am I saying that purity should become any version of a legalistic checklist, even in the slightest way. That’s not what I mean at all. We need to always have our eyes and heart fixed solely on The LORD, nothing else. Nothing. What I am saying, however, is that by building that relationship with God, and focusing on Him, purity will fall into place in our lives and we need to make sure that we don’t leave out any portion of it due to the wide-spread, culturally-fed ignorance handed to us.  The Lord’s call for us, as Christians, is certainly one of great weight and responsibility, but it is also one fueled by love and a desire for us, His creation, to have the very best out of this corrupted world possible. We, in turn, should strive and seek to fulfill this request not only out of gratitude for the sacrifice made for us, but also out of love for The ever sovereign Lord and OUR Merciful Savior.

-Get pure. Stay pure. Be pure. It’s a lifestyle.-

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)