Seeking Him Together Week 10: Sexual Purity

Howdy! Sure glad that forgiveness was last week's theme, for I ask yours in dropping off the Seeking Him planet for a week. Truth is, I could've jammed it in, but I wouldn't have liked the result. So I gave myself a pass. We have 2 questions this week. Thanks, His Girl, for hosting.



Hang on to your hats: We're talking sex...



Sexual Purity: The Joy of Moral Freedom



1. Why do you think it's valuable to include a lesson on moral purity in a study on personal revival? This is valuable because God wants all of us. Our sexual/moral selves are part of the package which completes us as human beings. If we are to have complete revival, we must examine this, too.



2. Which of the 12 safeguards to moral purity do you find particularly helpful or challenging? I'll list them for folks who might not be in the study, but who are following along:

• Recognize your potential for moral failure.


• Realize that you don't have to give in.


• Resolve to be pure.


• Remove all bitterness.


• Restrain your fleshly desires.


• Reject anything that could lead you back into bondage.


• Run from every form of evil.


• Renew your mind with the Word of God


• Recruit help.


• Remember the consequences.


• Refuse to remain in defeat and depression.


• Rely on the Holy Spirit.

Ahem...wriggling in my seat a bit. Not because I have some deep, dark secret. Rather, the death by a 1000 papercuts (or "little" sins--yes, I know sin is sin, but you know what I mean) makes this difficult to examine, yet the choice to do so is so freeing.

Helpful: Probably my top 3 (for today) are: Realize that I don't have to give in; Restrain my fleshly desires; and Rely on the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, it was difficult to choose just 3. Obviously, they're all listed for a reason. For me, though, keeping morally pure is foremost about abiding in the Holy Spirit and having Him abide in me. If this is happening, I realize that I don't have to give in, and I'm more likely to avoid sin. Living unequally yoked presents its challenges--especially in terms of different senses of morality. But I won't lie--I can get into all sorts of trouble on my own. This really underscores the fact that sin is sin and that one part of our lives is connected inextricably to another. Just as one cannot separate the fingers from the hand, one cannot separate one area of sin from another. Hey, I'm back to answering the first question, aren't I. Ooopsiedaisy.

Challenging: I could weasle out and say all of them. BUT that would be lazy and not entirely true. :) My hardest 3 would be: Recognizing my potential for moral failure; Resolving to be pure; Rejecting anything that can lead me back into bondage. Say it with me now, "Gretchen is a prideful, filthy rag, and deserves wrath. Thankfully, she is living in victory because of the saving, grace filled blood of Jesus.". Can we talk? Because recognizing my potential for moral failure sounds really good and all, but oft times, the log is so squarely in my eye that I have trouble seeing my own propensity towards (in the immortal words of the Crocodile Hunter) danger, danger, DANGER! Further, my pride doth challenge me when resolving to be pure. "You're doing fine. Don't be such a legalist." Right. Sit with it a minute, Gretchen. Are you really doing fine? Are you blemish-free in thought and behavior? Draw near the throne. Again, and again, and again. For this is the only way to "reject anything that can lead me back to bondage."

Deep Thoughts with Gretchen:

It occurs to me that on the most simplistic level, this entire Bible study (and all, really) beckons me to draw near to the Throne. To repent. To receive forgiveness. To surrender, acting in righteousness, allowing the Fruit of the Spirit to flow through and grow within me. To fall down (as all humans will). To scrape my knees. To need Him. Repeat. My prayer is that this process would tighten up, though. That instead of the looooong time it takes me to realize I've fallen and truly can't get up without Him (anyone else channeling that old bad commercial?), the time would be shorter in each cycle. That one day, I'd be so close to sanctification that well...He'd make me worthy for an eternal, amazing, glory-giving life and the falling down would be into His arms.

I got a little chatty mcchatterson here, today. Thank you if you were able to follow along.