Staying Pure in an Impure World

I have been very consumed with the idea of sexual purity lately because it has occurred to me how incredibly important this issue is to our society.  Churches are destroyed over it, lives are laid waste as we as men succumb time and time again to the pressures of temptation to be sexually immoral.

I have to share this with whoever reads this post:  Sexual purity is an attainable goal for ALL men.  Impurity is not an impenetrable state that we cannot escape from, a veritable moral black hole.  Impurity is a set of bad habits built in our mind and in our eyes.  Impurity is something that we can control if we decide to.

The challenge I have for men is this:  if we as men ask for the Holy Spirit to enter our lives, to enter our thoughts and hearts, He will be faithful to enter into our lives and begin to transform our minds and hearts so that we will rise up and grasp for sexual purity.  We can’t break sexual addictions alone.  I can’t stay pure in my mind without the strength of the Holy Spirit.  I have not been pure in my mind because I have not relied on Him.

I would offer a few verses of the Bible to spur men on to sexual purity: 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says this:  “Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Guys, we are in a battle with spirits and principalities that are not of this world.  Sexual impurity is just one of many ways in which the enemy takes the wind out of our sails and makes it hard for us to fulfill our purposes in Christ.  Pray for strength and an infilling of the Holy Spirit.  God will be faithful to provide you with strength and peace.

A Deadly Cancer

There is a deadly disease in churches today. It is a disease that is crippling the men of the church, it is bringing the church itself into chaos and disarray, and the church responds by sweeping everything under the rug.  The disease I am talking about is sexual impurity.

I have spoken about this before, but never with this fervent attitude.  We as men have to step up and say “NO MORE!!!”  The divorce rate inside the church is the same as outside the church.  7 out of 10 pastors who call in to Focus on the Family for help call for help with a sexual addiction.

The reason why this is such a devastating and painful attack on the church is nothing other than the church’s refusal to bring it out into the open.  The church as a body does not deal with this disease, and the men inside the church are not willing to take this head on.  Why not?  Do we want to continue to cradle these secret trysts with our fantasies in our hidden box, to be pulled out when we are looking for a “quick fix?”  Is it our pride and desire not to be found and unmasked for what we really are?

I think if we are going to move forward as a church, the body of Christians needs to be ready to make a stand against the constant barrage of attacks of sexual impurity.  When we see that church has become a more dangerous place than even the grocery stores with their smut, it is time to take action!  When we feel that we as men are not actively taking up our sword and shield to fight off this attack from the enemy, rather than sidling up with our hidden pet sins we should instead reexamine ourselves to discover our inner warrior.

“The LORD is a warrior.  The LORD is His Name.”