Purity? What is that?

In our world today, purity is something that is becoming rare to find. More and more you hear of girls in their teens getting pregnant, or you hear of people living together before marriage. Even just 60 years ago, this was not something that you did, or of which you could be proud. As time goes on, purity becomes less important to the world, and the world actually promotes impurity through telivision shows such as "16 and pregnant", "Teen Mom", "The Secret life of the American Teenager", "Pregnancy Pact", etc. (Just for the record, I have never seen these shows, but I have read reviews on PluggedIn, and please don't ever consider watching these shows.) Why do we not have shows promoting purity?

Yesterday, I read this article. It was so encouraging for me as a young lady who is striving to be pure, and to completely save myself for my husband, to see young men who appreciated and encouraged girls to stay pure, because they were staying pure for them. I encourage you young ladies to go and read this article, and allow it to be an encouragement to you to keep your purity.

After reading this article, I started to think to myself, what exactly is purity? Of course there is the obvious, such as sexual purity, but I personally believe there is a lot more entailed with purity. So if you are interested in how I define purity, and the things I do to keep myself completely pure for my future husband, continue reading.

Purity Defined

Modesty
I don't know if a lot of you girls think about this one as remaining pure, but I certainly do. If we dress in such a way that causes men to lust after us, I believe in some ways, we have let go of purity. Jesus says that lusting after a woman in your heart is the same as committing adultery with her. So if we dress in such a way that causes a man to lust after us, then in God's eyes, it's the same as committing adultery. Have you ever thought about that? So ladies, dress in such a way as to save your body completely for your husband. Ask the men in your family if something you are wearing causes a wrong thought to spring in their head.
Here are a few pointers:

1. Don't show any cleavage please!
2. If you are wearing a skirt, please make sure it covers your knees when sitting down. You have no idea how easily someone can see up your skirt, even if you are careful.
3. If you are wearing pants, please wear pants that are loose fitted, and do not show every outline of your body.
4. Even if you are wearing a top with a modest neckline, make sure it is not tight and clingy to your skin.

If you have to ask yourself the question "Is this too tight, too short, or too low?" then it probably is. I am not saying that we all need to go around in potato sacks. There are ways to dress modestly and stylish at the same time. I know many girls that do so, as well as my sisters and myself. I am not saying to hide your beauty. In fact, dressing modestly adds extra beauty to you. I promise you that if you dress modestly, some day your husband will greatly thank you for saving yourself for him by dressing that way.

Physical Contact
Now, I know everyone is going to feel different about this issue than I am, but I am addressing this because this is something I personally have felt convicted to do to help save myself for my husband. For me, I have no physical contact with young men. I know a lot of girls who give hugs to their guy friends, but I do not. I want to save my body completely for my husband, and to me that means having no physical contact with other young men. After talking to my dad on the subject, I know the kind of thoughts that could go through a young man's mind when you give him a hug, and those are not some thoughts that I want to cause. Talk to your dad about the subject, and pray about what God would have you to do. If you end up in several relationships (which I hope you will not after reading the next paragraph), this will help to lessen pain and attachment when you leave that relationship. But as for me, and my sisters, we avoid physical contact. For me, this also means not having any physical contact with the man I am in a relationship with, until the marriage altar. My first hand-hold will be at the altar. My first kiss will be at the altar. I intend to save the first of everything for my husband. This goes for you too, guys. Help out us young women by avoiding physical contact with us. Don't initiate those hugs. If we are trying to avoid physical contact, we need your help by you avoiding it also.

Dating vs. Courtship
Another way I am saving myself for my husband is by not dating. In my family, we believe in courtship, which to us means not entering into a relationship until God has brought the person into our life with whom we are going to spend the rest of our life. Some people play the dating game, thinking "Oh, if I do not like this person, I can dump them and find someone else". Ask yourself these questions. How will your future spouse feel about you having relationships with other people before them? How would you feel if the person you married had a lot of other relationships before you? Please, wait on God's timing to bring the right person into your life before ever entering into a relationship.

Purity of heart
This is the main thing, and should really come first before anything else. We can not have pure actions if we do not have a pure heart. This means completely giving yourself over to Christ, and keeping your focus on Him. When you keep your focus completely on Him, and make Him the love of your life, everything else will follow. I plead with you to set your focus on Christ, do everything to please Him, and then God will eventually bring along the right kind of person into your life. Because the right person will be looking for someone who is totally in love with Christ. If you want Christ to be first in your life, then you want someone who also wants you to have Christ first in your life, and has Christ first in their life.

This post ended up being a lot longer than I wanted, but this is something that has been weighing on my heart, and I wanted to share it with you all. Please think about what I said, and I encourage you young ladies to save yourselves for your husbands completely, in the ways I have described, and put your focus on Christ. Young men, I encourage you to be doing the same. Set your eyes upon Christ. Make Him first in your life. Keep yourselves pure for your future wife. God will bless that, and will bring along the right person into your life in the right time.

God's blessing upon you all as you strive for purity, and strive to live for Jesus Christ. Because life is all about Him! Stay strong in Jesus!

Because of His blood,
Faith Christine
Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 15:10