Promoting & Protecting Purity

Promoting and Protecting Purity

Protecting our country, our lifestyle, our way of life has been something that has grabbed everyone’s attention over the last few years.  We want to make sure we are safe.  We want to make sure our families are safe. People have begun to resort to “extra measures” in order to protect themselves against possible threats. Let me just say that being safe is always a good thing. But let me push the envelope a little further and ask this question, “What are we doing to protect our souls, our spiritual walk with God?”
Someone said, “Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian.  It evidences itself in the decisions we make and things we do, hour by hour, day by day.”  Sometimes it seems that our battle is by the hour or even by the minute.  What can we do DAILY to protect ourselves, our marriages, our children, and the church from the constant attacks against us?  These attacks aren’t as obvious as flying planes into buildings. These attacks are on our daily lives.  The attacks I am speaking of threaten our faith journey.  It may come in the form of some temptation to do something we know is wrong.  It may come as a life-threatening illness that shakes our faith.  It may take shape as a spouse or loved one abandoning or leaving a family. It may just be the onslaught of daily pressures that stress us out from work or with our family’s daily routine. Whatever the form, we have opportunities every day to protect what the Bible calls our holiness (which does not mean we have a “holier than thou” attitude but rather holiness means we try to live our lives for God!) or our purity (keeping ourselves clean from evil). There are some things we can do to ensure we are protected.

First, we need to RECOGNIZE the destructive forces that are already at work in our lives.  Here’s something you can do: Individually, come up with five potentially destructive elements that may have more of an influence in your life, marriage, and children than you want them to have.

Then we need the REMOVE the impurities. Spend a few minutes in private prayer about impurities in your life, where your purity has been attacked, and pray for God’s deliverance.

REPLACE them with a growing love for God’s word, holy living, and service in the church. Try doing this exercise this week: Read 1 Peter 1:13-16. How would you define the commands here or put them in your own words?  Which one command sums up everything? How?  Based on these commands, how would you define “holy”?  How can living a holy life protect you from attacks on your purity?

Lastly, we must RESOLVE to seek God, especially in prayer. What steps can you take in order to know God better or to seek Him? May God richly bless your efforts to protect your family’s purity.