Staying pure in an immoral world....can it be done? Why is purity so important to God? The Christian worldview on chastity may seem obscure, old fashioned, ludicrous, or unnatural to the world...even unpopular to many Christians, but it is so important and very precious. We do not simply abstain from something just to appear pure or please religion and tradition or deprive ourselves. I believe one of the greatest reasons for remaining pure is focusing on your true lover, who is the Lord. "Purity makes us familiar with God" John Climacus. Purity is a spiritual discipline not because it's your ticket to heaven to be a 'goodie-goodie' for God, but because it is you actively recognizing and choosing to live out your new nature as a born-again, dead to sin and alive to Christ man or woman of God! Romans 6 tells us that we've been freed from the chains of an immoral lifestyle, we are no longer ruled by that sin-driven nature. So instead of reading that you were made the righteousness of Christ and a new creation on pages why not live out that life of righteousness and purity?
The world doesn't make it to easy on us, as it shows near to zero support for chastity, especially American culture who seems determined to mock and ridicule chastity as much as possible. Now when it comes to the Body of Christ, you should have it made. You are hanging around the wrong Christians if it's not awesome to be Holy and pure before God. That should be a common pursuit and interest between believers...or so we hope. Then of course there is the media. Here are a few statistics for you: research study conducted by The American Academy of Pediatrics: American children devote on average 38 hours/ week to various forms of media (i.e. internet, t.v, movies, video games, i phone apps etc.) By their high school graduation they will have devoted 15,000 hours to media, twenty percent more time than spent in the classroom. American adolescents will have seen 14,000 sexual references per year.
After hearing those statistics it is wise for a man to run from immorality rather than play with fire as it is so engraved in our society being found in what we watch, listen to and read. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. " Even after the grand "liberation" or sexual revolution, no matter how strongly society writes off moral law, the intimacy and sacredness of sex is still impressed upon our hearts. There is no such thing as no strings attached sex. With sex and impurity comes a massive amount of other issues and problems, and not just the obvious physical risks of STDS or unwanted pregnancy, but spiritual and emotional issues are created such as guilt, shame, heartbreak, self-denial and the list goes on. Some people never overcome these issues for their entire lives and will carry them to each and every new relationship they take part in. For lack of more eloquent words: societies rules and ideas about sex, relationships, and moral conduct just plain suck! It's a sad world we live in when the ones living a morally upright life are more shocking to our culture than those who are living a sexually careless life! Why am I the one who is always asked to explain my choice of lifestyle as if I've done something wrong by being pure? We should be the ones asking questions about our cultures views on sexuality and purity.
Are those living and pursuing a pure life really a minority in this world? We shouldn't be a sub-culture, but the cultural norm. You can live pure in a sexualized world, and you can change the ideas and misconceptions of those around you by being an example...and whoever told you that purity isn't that cool was dead wrong!
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