KEEP YOURSELF PURE
Today’s Text: Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)Today’s Thoughts: God wants the best for us. He intended for one man to marry one wife and remain together for the rest of their lives. He wanted them to grow in their love toward each other, but sadly, today we see so many discontent couples. Some stick together in spite of the loss of love and affection, but most people today rather choose to end their union. Even worse, some individuals start looking elsewhere instead of trying to patch up the brokenness. God blesses the union of marriage. Let us remain pure and happy in all our relationships.
Today’s Testimony: God wants us all to be pure. Firstly let me speak to those who are not married. He wants us to reserve ourselves for only one person. This includes emotionally – He desires for us to wait for His leading instead of dating without further intensions. Some say, “But how am I supposed to know if he or she is the one if we don’t date?” To that I’d like to say that for starters: pray about it. If you know you would never marry each other, it is in your best interest not to waste your emotions. Be friends first. The one you spend the rest of your life with must be your best friend. If you are not best friends – don’t date. If you are not best friends then what ever you do – don’t marry. The one you marry should be the one you can be “naked and unashamed” with – this is the term I use to refer to being able to be totally open and honest with each other, even about your bad side, and know that you are both still safe and loved. So now you want to know what this has to do with committing adultery. Let me explain it this way…. Do you believe in having only one spouse? That means that you believe that God has that someone special for you somewhere. So if God has a prince or princess that He is preparing especially for you – could we describe it as you already belong to that person in a sense. Now for you to waste your emotions or more on someone before your spouse is stealing affection due only to him or her. Does that make sense? Imagine you meet that prince or princess and he/she has kept himself/herself totally pure for you and you haven’t done the same. Do you think maybe you’d wish you had the same to offer? Every time you get emotionally bonded to someone you leave a piece of yourself behind when you leave. I encourage you to save yourself for the one God leads to. If you have already not kept yourself fully, from now on, I encourage you to keep yourself pure so you can offer your prince or princess as much as possible. You won’t regret it.
Now a message for those who are married…. In an article in one of my exam papers a while ago I read a statement that basically said that the problems that arise in marriages in not due to conflict, but to a loss of love and affection. Think about it, if you focused on nurturing the love you share or on restoring the love you once had, that love and care for each other will hold you together no matter what conflicts you may face. God wants us to be happy and content in our relationships.
Now a message for both the married and unmarried…. As with the sixth commandment, Christ also took the seventh commandment a few steps further (Matthew 5:27-32). He said that if a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery in his heart. That applies to both married and unmarried and the same goes for a woman thinking lustfully about a man. God wants our hearts, minds and bodies to be pure. He gave us guidelines to keep us happy in our relationships. He doesn’t want us to waste any affections due only to our present or future spouses. He knows the greater joy that can only be found in waiting and staying. Christ also said that those who are divorced should not marry again unless they divorced due to unfaithfulness (the innocent one would be free). This is an extremely controversial subject which I am not going to delve into, but you may read for yourself what Christ had to say in Matthew 19:3-9 (see also Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
Finally I have to mention that God must be our First Love. We must love God above all others and then allow Him to allocate our love where He will have it. Never begin a relationship without the Lord’s guidance. If you are in one that you know He is not pleased with – get out. If you are married or in a relationship under God’s guidance – work on nurturing your love for each other. If that love is lost or maybe never even existed – work on restoring your love for each other or on developing a love for each other. God wants us to be happy. The benefits of keeping this commandment are a pure heart, mind and body and true happiness. Aim for purity.
Today’s Task: Love yourself and your present or future prince or princess enough to keep yourself pure. Don’t wander anywhere else even in thought. Your emotions, affections and body belong to only one. If you are married - be content in the relationship you have. If you are single – wait for God’s timing and leading. If you are in a relationship – continue to ask the Lord to make His will known to you and then move forward or get out as He leads. God wants us to be happy within our relationships; He wants the best for us. He has given us guidelines – let’s follow them. Let us give our love and affection totally to God and let Him lead us in our love and affection for those around us. God loves you – love Him back.
Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that even though we have not always been faithful to You as our God, You have been faithful to us and love us with a love that we don’t deserve. You have not divorced us for our unfaithfulness – You are waiting for us to return. Please help us to return and remain in You. Lord I thank You that You have given us guidelines for happy relationships. Please help us to remain totally pure in thought and action at all times. We want to have the peace of knowing that we are living in Your will. Please lead and guide us in our earthly relationships. But most importantly – please help us in our relationship with You. Lord give us a love for the ones you have led us to, or will lead us to, that only You can give. We want to be pure and happy. I thank You that You will help us. Amen.
