Purity

I received a very big challenge yesterday. It started out as a simple question, Jacob asking me to address our youth group about purity. I have been a part of our youth class on Wednesday nights, speaking to the group a few times but mostly watching and learning about our youth. Overall they are an impressive group from what I see. (As a sidenote, I would say they are good kids with good parents AND good involvement from Jacob and Heather - great examples.)

The simple question is something I have been wrestling with since be asked to teach. Purity? Me? Far too often I feel so filthy, so far from purity. I have far too many "from experience" stories on what our kids shouldn't do. It seems like it gets harder and harder for me to talk about what people should do when I find myself doing the opposite. Purity seems elusive for me much of the time because I let Satan exploit my weaknesses. My mind isn't on things of God but things of me. I find myself asking for forgiveness too often.

I feel a closeness to God's servant, David, when I read the 51st Psalm. A man after God's own heart yet feeling many of the same things I feel. I echo his plea, "create in me a pure heart, O God..."

I almost tremble at the thought of what purity means for me as a Christian. It scares me to think what the lack of purity in my life means.

I would ask for your prayers for our youth, that they will seek the Light and seek to live pure lives. I would ask for your prayers for me, that God will use me to share His message about purity to them. My prayer is that you and I will seek God, to seek purity in our lives in order to walk closer to Him, to seek the unfailing, perfect love that He gives and thank Him for the forgiveness He sheds on us.