1 Corinthians 6:18-20
"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
Four years ago I surrendered my life to God, I must say it was the toughest but the best decision I’ve ever made in my entire life!
I lived a life as to how the world defines it or even worst; I made a lot of compromises without thinking of the possible consequences of my actions. Living a pure life is non-existent in my life book, I used to believe that I should pursue whatever will make me happy and bring pleasure, even if in reality, I feel so empty and exhausted inside without me realizing it then, all I know was I never wanted to be alone but I didn’t know the reason why.
Sex was my one of my greatest pleasure and dependence, my relationships were defined by the pleasure that sex brings, I didn’t know then the importance of purity, my line of thinking was it’s okay to do it since its acceptable and open, before I strongly believe that life without sex is boring and sexual compatibility then to me was one of my top most important factor in a relationship since I thought that it’s a relationship binder, for the fun and adventure that it brings…..but I was wrong!
When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, slowly His command of purity was making sense to me, though I must admit during the early stages of my Christianity I was still actively practicing that part of my old life….but as I get to know His word, His promises and His love for us, slowly, I am taking a slow drive away from my active lifestyle, until such time that I decided to have a covenant of purity.
Taking the correct path is not an easy road to trek, most especially if you’re driven by your personal motives and not solely because we love Him, that’s why we wanted to obey. I told myself, “Lord this is for you” but in reality the underlying unsaid motive in my heart was “Lord, bless me ha cause I am making a huge sacrifice for you” (hehehe parang x-deal) but sadly that’s not how it works and in my first year, as expected, I failed about 2 to 3 times --- F-A-I-L-U-R-E! I honestly wanted to give up, thinking along the line that since God is very loving and merciful, He will forgive me anyway, but whenever the Holy Spirit reminds me of what I learned in B1G 4 (I can choose to sin, but I can never choose the consequences of my sins), fear succumbed my whole being; Though lies were still moving then around my head, and it somehow made me walk a step or two backwards for there was this certain shame in my heart that made me feel uneasy and insecure deep inside….
Failing is never easy, but it is important that when we do, we have people around us to encourage and bring us back to the word (run away from people who will tolerate you and say that it’s okay), I must say I am very blessed to be surrounded by people who helped me pray for His grace, so I can stand with Him against my stronghold; And it did worked! God answered our prayer, in fact with a bonus.
God allowed me to get to know Him all the more so I may understand His words and commands by heart, as I become more intimate and learned to increase my dependence on the Lord, it made me fall deeply in love with Him (truly I can feel His loving presence in my life even through my toughest times, never did He leave me alone). And through that love and graciousness, choosing obedience is an automatic heart choice for all I ever wanted is to give Him honor, glory and praise.
The Lord answered our prayer by helping me to know His Lordship first and changing the motives of my heart on the covenant that I had with Him. By God’s grace, obedience on the area of purity is no longer a stronghold, in fact by His grace He even answered 2 of my prayers in which I/we (and my Church friends) have prayed for 3 years – Adrian is now a Christian and been attending regular worship service with me since July; Though he have always respected & never made an issue about my vow of purity but at least now it’s a joy to know that he has a better understanding in that area and our obedience is not based on ourselves alone, but because we both love the Lord so much. I may not know if he is the one that God prepared for me but his spiritual progress is enough reason for me to be happy, whether we end up together or not, the fact that Christ is in his heart, is already good enough for me.
Purity for someone who used to live like me is not an easy feat but God is truly awesome and all powerful, all we need is just to seek Him, obey with a correct heart and love Him above all, cause if we do, His grace alone is sufficient enough for us not to be tempted and be able to deny the desires of our own flesh.
Saved by Grace.
Merci Dieu!!!
