Crosswalk.com Live It Channel - God has designed sex to be a blessing, but it's often misused, resulting in great harm to people. Sexual purity is vital, and if you make Jesus your greatest love, it's possible for you to be sexually pure.

Here are some ways you can develop and maintain sexual purity:

• Remember that sex is a beautiful gift that is meant to illustrate God's deep, intimate love for His creation. Strive to honor God with the sexuality He has given you. Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you a desire to follow God's plan for sex.

 

• Know the devastating physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of having sex outside of marriage - the way in which God intends people to relate sexually. Consider the sexually transmitted diseases you could contract (against which only abstinence provides protection). Think about the emotional bonds that sex creates between two people, and the pain of having those bonds broken when a relationship doesn't last. Remember God's warnings that sexual sin blocks fellowship with Him.

 

• Understand that God wants you to abstain not just from intercourse, but also other forms of sexual contact and inappropriate emotional connections as well. If you invest yourself sexually in any way with someone to whom you are not married, you're giving away very cheaply something that is very valuable.

 

• Embrace God's love for you, and derive confidence from that. Respect your dignity and don't allow people to treat you in any way that undermines that dignity.

 

• Trust that God has your best interests at heart and will help you stay pure while single, lead you to your spouse, and strengthen your marriage.

 

• Know that you will likely face the temptation of lust throughout your life, but if you respond to it by making the right choices, God will enable you to continually grow in purity.

 

• Confess your sexual sins to God and know that He understands your pain (He experienced great pain on the cross so He could reconcile you to Him). Accept His forgiveness, healing and grace to move forward in purity.

 

• Find a mentor who is living a sexually pure life, and regularly meet with that person for encouragement, support and accountability.

 

• Set clear boundaries when dating, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you keep those boundaries.

 

• If you're single, ask God to give you a vision of what your spouse should be like, and don't settle for less when considering candidates for marriage. If you're married, ask God to give you a vision of how He would like your marriage to be, and work with your spouse to fulfill that vision.

 

• Write a love letter to God, expressing your deepest thoughts and feelings of devotion. Ask Him to respond by letting you know how much He loves you.

 

Adapted from Seven Secrets to Sexual Purity, copyright 2000 by Dannah Gresh. Published by Moody Press, Chicago, Ill., www.moody.edu, 1-800-678-6928.

Dannah Gresh is the founder of Pure Freedom Retreats, which she conducts for junior and senior high and college-age young women.