It’s Your Turn!
We’ve spent the last week or so sharing purity stories (in case you hadn’t noticed)…each of us has been walking a path that the Lord has used to teach us the price and value of purity.
Lauren shared that purity in our lives reflects our relationship with the Lord–we’re not supposed to daydream about other lovers, but we’re supposed to love the Lord purely! She also shared that meeting the “perfect” man wasn’t a signal to lay down her arms and give in–it was actually just a stronger call to keep fighting the battle–even protecting her physical purity during her engagement so that she could give herself entirely to her husband on her wedding day! And as a married woman, she shared that the same love that inspires “keeping” as a single woman, inspires “giving” as a married woman.
Megan shared the power of God’s redeeming love as the basis for all purity. With that in mind, pride doesn’t lead us to true purity. She expressed that purity is far more than physical boundaries–that it begins with a pure mind and heart and humility! She also shared how God’s powerful love can redeem even our mistakes and sanctify them for our growth and use them for our blessing! As a wife and mother (with a fifth on the way!), a pure mind and heart are no less important now!
Amy shared that an invaluable secret to protecting “chastity” is godly accountability–particularly parents! Contentment is an act of trust and the foundation for trust is knowing and understanding God’s character–that He is good and gives good gifts. Even when “Mr. Right” entered her life, the Lord still had growth planned for her! And even after her marriage, she has learned that contentment is still an act of trust! The day we trust the Lord is only the beginning of a life of trusting.
Sarah shared the struggle of learning to balance preparation and training to be a godly wife and mother with the commands to guard her heart and keep her daydreams focused on the Lord. One day she came to her parents. “For my entire life you have been grooming me to be a wife and mother. What am I supposed to do, erase 16 years of brainwashing from my head?” She also shared the struggle of balancing a godly friendship with the teasing of “helpful friends” and her own desires for a godly husband. She also shared how we can tend to trust “good things” that the Lord provides, instead of simply trusting the Lord.
Ana Marie shared the importance of filling our lives with the right things–nature abhors a vacuum, and where there is nothing, usually there is plenty of room for stumbling! She shared the value of a tender conscience and also the power of confessing even motives to her father. She also shared how necessary it is to guard our brothers–hearts and eyes–in worship to the Lord.
Abigail shared the danger of creating “high ideals” that are often founded in pride instead of in scripture–since they set us up for failure! God doesn’t promise us our ideal–no matter how we behave. He just commands us to obey Him. She also shared the importance of understanding that both marriage and singleness are pure–and glorify God when submitted to Him. And she shared the the call never changes–regardless of circumstances, pressures or temptations. Purity must start and end in love–love for the Lord first and then love for His people–all of them.
Now it’s your turn! We want to hear how the Lord has convicted you and how you’ve responded to the call to purity! Leave your thoughts and/or post a link(s) to your story in the comments below!
Blessings!
Confessions of an Idealist
Abigail’s Story
My Papa calls me a precocious child—and dramatic. Add to that an aura of idealism and you have a recipe for trauma. At least I can keep a secret. Few know that I was once engaged. After that, I took a vow of celibacy.
In Which I Tell of My Engagement, Such as it Was
It lasted an entire afternoon. I was three years old. His name was Colby and he lived a couple of doors down. We were engaged, he said, reaching out to hold my hand. It seemed like an interesting game—whatever “engaged” meant. When my older brother began teasing me, I discovered that PDA equals humiliation.
In Which I Came to Dread Being a Heart-breaker
Almost as soon as I could speak, my Papa taught me to recite Ephesians 6:1 and explained to me that pleasing my parents was pleasing the Lord. I might have been six when we visited an elderly aunt. “What a pretty little girl!” she exclaimed, in elderly-aunt fashion. “She will be a heart-breaker!” My parents hastened to say something like, “Oh, no, that’s not what we have in mind at all!” Their exact words are long gone, but I understood that heart-breaker was not among their goals for me.
In Which I Explain Why Romance Is Embarrassing
I was the girl who closed her eyes during the movie kiss. When another neighbor boy tried to coax a kiss from me, I declined. If holding hands earned teasing, I wasn’t about to risk the song “Abi and Colin sitting in a tree…”
Since my early childhood, I have kept myself to myself—my thoughts, my hands, my struggles. I was always distinctly aware of my privacy and personal space, often excluding my own family. Secret-keeping, while often masquerading as purity, was simply my method of self-preservation. I’m introverted. Intimacy equals vulnerability. I hate feeling vulnerable. As I grew and matured, I began stuffing my drama and emotions into a mental closet—to save embarrassment.
My observations of “romance” are deeply engraved in my childhood memories. Girls acted like giggling goof-balls, said stupid things, tripped over nothing, turned red constantly and whispered secrets to their friends—who announced them to the boy in question. Boys stole my headband, pestered me, bumped into me, told dumb jokes, invaded my privacy and acted generally obnoxious. I resented their “immaturity.” When the preacher’s son made a big ruckus out of sitting by me in Sunday school every week, I took up the matter with his father. Friends told me, “He likes you” and adults consoled “He’s just sweet on you.” If that was “sweet” I’d just go sit in the corner with the lemons.
My favorite fairy tale was a version of the Little Mermaid that concluded with the poor mermaid alone, broken-hearted and voiceless after unsuccessfully seeking the prince at whom she’d flung her heart. Given the circumstances and her disobedience to her father, it seemed a realistic and appropriate ending. The moral? Romance is the perfect way to ruin a perfectly good life.
In Which I Decide to Fight Back
I was nine when we attended a small-town barbeque. My brothers and I joined a group of kids on a squeaky merry-go-round. Suddenly the boy seated beside me asked my name. Duly answered, he wanted my age, my grade, and where I was from. This impromptu interrogation concluded, he turned to his friend and announced, “I got me a pretty lady.” My ears pricked, curiously. “I asked her name,” he continued, proudly, “her age, her grade, where she’s from and bingo! I got me a pretty lady.” “You ain’t got nothing,” I thought bitterly to myself. Arrogance! He hadn’t even asked me! My brothers thought it was hilarious. Pondering the event later, it seemed so ludicrous, so stupid, that was almost funny. I made a decision: if boys were going to be stupid and drag me into it, then I would make them look as stupid as possible.
And I got very good at it.
By the time I was twelve or thirteen, I’d mastered the art of humiliation. One day after church, a visiting boy began furiously flirting with my buddy and me. “He’s hitting on your sister,” a friend whispered to my older brother, Nathaniel. “Just watch,” Nathaniel chuckled. “It will be funny.” In an act of deceptive kindness, I boosted the boy onto a trash barrel and into a tree where he perched happily, blowing me kisses. Then I grabbed the trash barrel and rolled it away, leaving him stranded. The audience erupted in laughter. I never paid attention to how he got himself down.
In Which I Accept a Challenge
Before I hit thirteen, my Papa introduced us to the “Bold Christian Youth” seminar by a father and teacher named Jonathan Lindvall. Lindvall’s message sprang from Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to be an example to the believers—in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. He spent three sessions on the topic of purity, delving far beyond the basics of sexual purity and into the issue of emotional purity. He introduced me to the concept of defrauding: taking something that doesn’t belong to you. He shared the simple story of how he had met and married his wife, Connie, with his parent’s guidance and her parent’s blessing. The simplicity, the sincerity and the utter lack of gush appealed to me and I was sold, lock, stock and barrel.
The concept appealed to me for several reasons: First, it was clearly pleasing to my parents and to the Lord. Second, it made sense. It didn’t waste time and energy. And people didn’t get hurt. (Right?) Third, it was rather non-threatening to my personality and comfort zone.
I now had a Biblical foundation for battlements to guard body, heart, mind and emotions. But as I developed my battle-plan and the rules that would protect my borders, I discovered that not everyone was on my team. In fact, most of the boys I knew seemed like traitorous spies, intent on crossing boundaries at every opportunity. I remember feeling entirely invaded when one guy friend chased me down and picked me up. Instead of coming to my aid, several others just laughed (probably because they thought the “smart-mouthed girl” was getting what she deserved.) With renewed energy and a misplaced zeal, I responded with down-right cruelty. You pinch my knee, I stab you with a safety pin. You repeat the offense, I repeat the punishment. You mess with my hair, I slug you. You flirt with me, I verbally tear you into sniveling shreds. I resented any intrusion into my place of concealment and looked suspiciously on any act of kindness. If I were kind in return, people might think I returned the sentiment. So I loaded up with sarcasm, cynicism and subtle insults and fired at will.
My parents pulled me aside one day and explained to my horrified ears that “picking on” boys could actually be interpreted as flirtation—it was giving them special attention. All this time, my efforts to ward off the enemy might have been drawing fire?
I withdrew. I quit teasing, quit talking to boys, quit making eye-contact.
Chuckling, my parents exhorted me to be kind, to be friendly, but to avoid teasing, insults and “singling out” and to be honest and straightforward about boundaries.
In Which I Discover that Boys Can Be Friends
My mid-teens found me and my brother and involved in a homeschool speech and debate league. The environment stimulated my mind and brought me out of my shell to look around. The guys I met behaved like men (well, for the most part) and treated me with respect and friendship. Most of them were solid believers with strong convictions and when I expressed my convictions and boundaries, they responded with sensitivity and respect. “I don’t give hugs,” I explained and they quickly apologized. They became my brothers. Soon I was developing many friendships that had depth and substance and seemed non-threatening.
Unwittingly, I dropped my guard.
But as my circle of “safe” boy friends grew, something horrible happened.
In Which “Safe” Becomes the Enemy
I had my first crush.
I’d never really liked a boy. Sometimes, in my early teens, I’d admired a godly young man (usually much older than I), but there was little reason to like anyone. I was a Papa’s girl with two brothers close to my age. If there were to be any praises, teasing, affection, drama, conversation, competition, antagonism, attention or good advice, they had it covered. I’ve heard it said that crushes are a natural part of a adolescence. So are pimples, but they’re still disgusting. So when the first crush came, I was aghast. The world had fallen, my heart had betrayed me, I had lost all vestiges of purity.
As soon as I discovered my heart’s betrayal, I gathered together my forces and declared war on my unsuspecting crush. Mentally, I shot slime balls into his person and character until he simply wasn’t worth liking. I focused on his faults, his weaknesses, his annoyances. Bingo. He was history.
After all, I wasn’t getting married. Which made liking a guy the token failure of my purity standard.
See, as the Biblical call to purity had echoed across my heart, I’d felt a powerful desire to be an example to the believers. If I was to be an example of purity, wouldn’t the best and clearest way be to prove that a woman could be entirely devoted to Christ for her whole life? Marriage had never been paramount among my desires (remember, I had an intimacy issue). Now my dramatic side embraced the concept of singleness—serving the Lord perhaps in work with orphans or the inner city. After all, in a situation like that, singleness could be a decided asset.
Between the conviction that I would stay single for the glory of God and my fault-finding tactic, I survived rather splendidly.
In Which I Finally Grasp Marriage
My family was holed up in a cabin at a family camp in the Ozarks the summer I turned seventeen. I’d spent the week watching my parents as they waded through some rough issues. One night, as they sat whispering on their bed, I lay in the bunk above them and finally understood. Marriage was beautiful. Across the wooden panels of the cabin ceiling paraded the powerful wooing of Christ toward His church and the picture that a godly marriage could portray of Christ’s love and the church’s obedience. It was a picture so sadly lacking in the culture I’d witnessed (even the Christian culture) that I suddenly understood the divine calling to live it out. Marriage had always seemed fine for those who desired it, but I’d reasoned that singleness was better. As I lay there, sleepless, I grasped for the first time that a pure marriage was just as powerful an example as pure singleness. Both were from the Lord and both brought Him glory.
In Which I Vow to Remain Single
This revelation did not negate the value I placed on singleness. Paul’s teaching on the freedom a single woman has to single-mindedly serve the Lord still hangs prominently in my heart. But the revelation did make the single-mindedness a bit more difficult and I felt like I was battling towering odds. My grandmas had made bets with my brother that I would be married at 18 and I ranked top on friends lists of “who will marry first.” My obstinate determination not to marry had guarded my heart for so long, but with my growing appreciation for marriage, I began to feel exposed. I’d been convicted of my cruelty in tearing guys down to avoid liking them and abandoned it for a more Biblical approach of kindness. As I approached the magical age of eighteen, the romantic suggestions increased exponentially. Now I actually thought marriage was cool? With all of my self-defense mechanisms crumbling and my ammo tossed to the winds of the past, how could I ever stand guard over my heart?
Feeling vulnerable, I dug a trench. I took a vow of celibacy.
In Which I Learn to Focus
My “vow” was really just a year-long commitment. I promised the Lord that I would devote myself entirely to His service, refusing to consider marriage, but focusing on knowing and loving Him passionately.
I don’t recommend taking vows like this, but the Lord mercifully used the promise for good in my life. I developed disciplines of taking every thought captive, ignoring “boy attention” and refocusing my thoughts to the Lord. My spirit flourished and I fell so entirely in love with the Lord that year that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could be single forever—and He would be God Almighty, my Betrothed.
In Which I Lose My Last Defense
During this time of focus, I’d leaned heavily on one last defense: the art of evasion. Like a timid hare, a single threat of romantic interest would send me scampering to hiding. “Um…Charlie’s here,” my Mom announced as a guy I’d been kind to in the library turned up on our doorstep. “I’m not!” I cried, and fled out the back door.
One day my dad gently explained to me that avoidance could also be a form of “singling out”—giving special treatment to certain guys.
In Which My Ideal Goes the Way of All Fairy Tales
I passed my eighteenth birthday, leaving my year-long vow behind, and my heart wavered again toward marriage. I passionately desired to be a shining example of emotional purity and I pleaded with the Lord that I would be neither distracted nor a distraction. I’d watched Nathaniel and Lauren struggle through four years of distractions and determined to guard myself well against a similar story. My ideal had always been simple and practical—something that permitted me to be entirely oblivious until it suddenly became obvious that I could better serve the Lord married and married to Mr. X. The end. No drama. No romance. No struggle. No distractions. Let’s all just be sensible, can we?
But I’d overlooked a fundamental problem: oblivion was never included in my many faults.
Over the next several years, my ideal broke into a thousand pieces. You know how Cinderella wore glass slippers? In real life, no one wears glass slippers. My ideal was like a glass slipper—beautiful in theory, but unable to stand the pressures of real life. Being pursued several times didn’t fit my ideal any better than struggling for four years—both were distractions. We’re taught not to view every young man as a potential suitor, but what happens when it’s not my mindset I’m battling? What happens when, like Amy or Sarah or Lauren, a girl thinks she might have met Mr. Right? Or when a young man is pursuing in an upright manner? Or when others are trying to “help”? I wasn’t the only one lacking oblivion. People asked nosey questions, made nosey suggestions, tried facilitate my “happily ever after,” pushed me, pulled me, poked me and prodded me until I felt like the weepy girl who’d been forced to center-stage. I was anxious, nauseated, confused, disillusioned and battling resentment. How was I supposed to guard my heart when it was constantly under attack? I felt like my reputation was being dragged through the dirt as I was quizzed about one guy after another. Did people think I just bounced from one guy to the next like that? Did they think I didn’t uphold my own standards? What was I supposed to say? Or do? I was convinced that to intentionally encourage, where I did not have the blessing of my parents as well as wisdom and my own conscience, was cheating! As I struggled with distractions, I felt like I was failing my own purity ideals and I was haunted by the words “heart breaker.” I just wanted the drama to stop! This romance stuff wasn’t just embarrassing—it was a nightmare! My dramatic, precocious nature was ready to build a tower with no door or vanish into a nunnery.
Slowly I understood that I couldn’t survive on my own—I was helpless, weak and confused. I felt so stripped of my privacy and defenses that I was willing to open myself to intimacy with my parents. And with my heart feeling as crushed as my ideals, I was driven to scripture to see what the Lord truly expected of me. I’d always assumed distractions were bad, but “bad” things drove me to my parents and to the scriptures for anything to which I could cling. I found that the purity battle is won, not on the defensive, but on the offensive. I was trying not to “fall in love.” Instead I should love. The purity standard never changed, regardless of my circumstances. I should love the Lord first, using everything that entered my mind to turn my thoughts toward Him. When tempted to be distracted, to worry, to consider, I should springboard into praise, worship, truth, trust. I should love my brothers—regardless of appearances or intentions. I should seek my brother’s good, seek to turn their minds to the Lord, seek to treat them with kindness without showing favoritism, seek to encourage them. I should love all my neighbors equally—even those who are prying into my heart. I should extend grace to those who may not share or understand my ideals. And I should seek my parent’s accountability and guidance. I won’t pretend it wasn’t painful, but Christ’s sacrificial love drove Him to endure unfathomable suffering–trusting that He was doing right. It is His love that controls us and enables us to lay down our lives for others.
From the ashes of my nightmare rose a powerful call to purity and love.
In Which I Share the Moral of the Story
This time you get the moral before the end of the story! After all, I’m still living, and until I meet Jesus there is no “happily ever after.”
Looking back, I have no regrets regarding sexual purity—well, except perhaps holding hands during my “engagement.” But until recently, I’d been ashamed of my emotional purity struggle as an overwhelming failure–a complete waste of time, energy and emotion. I had completely failed all my own ideals. What was the purpose? I’d been intensely grateful to the Lord’s grace and to my parent’s wisdom in protecting me from any relationships, but it seemed like a battle I should never have had to fight.
Then I experienced a failed courtship—through the eyes of a friend. As I wept with her over her broken heart and ideals, I understood God’s healing power. Another friend recently married—the only guy who’d ever been interested in her. “How nice,” I thought, but she shared that she had often felt discouraged and undesirable. As I listened I understood that each person’s struggle will seem hard to them—“bad” to them. “Hard things” are life and “bad things” happen, but God promises to redeem them for our good. In fact, God never promises us our ideal—no matter how well we behave. He just commands us to obey His word—to love Him and His people as worship.
Purity isn’t about ideals or rules that I make up—it’s about obedience to God’s word! My actions and attitudes must flow, not from pride in my high ideals, but in recognition of my weakness! I am forgiven for mistakes in my past, I am not to guess at the future and I am to live today in worship of Almighty God. It’s encouraging to be reminded that I am not responsible for circumstances or results—I’m just responsible to obey the Lord and love my brothers. You don’t have to be strong to win the purity battle, you just have to depend fully on the Lord and His grace. May the grace of our Lord be with you!
Part Six: Love and Today
Posted by Abigail
I can look back on the past 20 years of my life with entire confidence that, when it comes to love, I’ve been an overwhelming failure. Praise the Lord, His love never fails, and it stretches to mercifully cover my short-comings.
God’s commands for purity are not for yesterday. Certainly there are consequences to our poor choices and we should do our best to rectify our mistakes, but the past is a part of something the Lord has bought back and promised to redeem for our good. He is in the business of using even bad things for His glory and our good. That is the power of God’s redeeming agape love.
Today we are commanded to seek to love purely—the Lord first and our neighbor as our self. It’s not something that just happens–it’s a battle. The command to “keep” our heart bears connotations of surviving a siege. As long as we are fighting, we can overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. A purity battle fought is not a purity battle lost. We lose the battles when we stop seeking the Lord, when we give up, when we sit down and give in to temptation or greed or discontentment—in any form or appearance.
I don’t intend to impose law, but to lift up the Lord. “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5) My challenge to you is the same I extend to myself: Pursue the Lord! Flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those that call on God from a pure heart. This is worship.
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
Posted by Abigail
Nathaniel and Lauren each arrived at college quite certain that they would not meet their future spouse there. Two weeks into the semester they had met and both were beginning to have second thoughts. Long before the first semester of her freshman year was over, Lauren had measured Nathaniel by her list of character qualities and found him to be exactly what she’d hoped for.
Thus began an epic four-year purity battle.
And when she should have had friends rallying behind her, helping her “keep” her heart and focus on the Lord and serving others, many were traitors, firing cupid’s love-darts behind her back, making suggestions, asking questions, “helping” her to snatch the pen from the Lord’s hand and write her own love-story.
Sometimes I wanted to grab shirt collars, knock heads together and shout the rebuke that these well-meaning friends needed to hear. Perhaps I’m a little over-dramatic, but few heard Lauren’s heart weeping and bleeding as she struggled to gain control over her desires. Few saw her weariness and tears the way I did as she struggled to tie each dream to the altar and burn it in worship to Almighty God. Few knelt beside her on the battlefield, as she bowed her head, too tired to get up and keep fighting for focus. It seems like a pretty story, reading of her four-year struggle and final triumph in giving up at the marriage altar, but the struggle wasn’t pretty.
In fact, as I watched, I made a solemn promise to myself. “That is never going to happen to me!”
Ladies, never make a promise concerning something that is entirely out of your control. You will assuredly break it.
I thought that if I was careful enough, guarded enough, chaste enough, no one would ever have anything to question, tease, prod or poke me about. Apparently there is no such thing as enough. I gave it my level best, but found myself harried at every step. Everything from questions, teasing and “help” regarding particular guys, to unsought “sympathy” and “encouraging” prophecies of coming marital bliss were flung at me under a cover of smiles and nods. Much of the time I felt entirely bewildered. What in the world was I doing to make people say such nonsense?
The greatest part of the difficulty lay in treating my brothers with love—while being questioned or teased about them. The self-protection in me wanted to push them all away as harshly as possible and save the remaining scraps of my focus. Ah, but to do so would not be loving.
What was awkward has proved for my good in forcing me to search out godly responses (at which I don’t always succeed). Perhaps you’ll appreciate the results of my dilemma. *
Love your enemies
The fact is, sometimes when you’re fighting a purity battle, those well-meaning matchmakers feel like enemy forces. “Friendly fire” they call it when your team is shooting you up, but the bullets whistling around your head hardly feel friendly. Friend or foe, God’s call is for you to love them. (Luke 6:27) The fact is, most people who seem intimately interested in your romantic status probably are interested because they appreciate you. They want to see you happy (which they’ve decided means married—or at least hopelessly in love). And sometimes, they honestly just don’t know what else to talk about. A gracious woman attains honor. (Proverbs 11:16) Learn to think and answer graciously because, I promise, the situations never end.
Accept what is said as intended in love.
1 Corinthians 13 says that love believes all things. Commentaries suggest this means “believes the best.” Giving folks the benefit of the doubt will hardly harm them, and will actually protect your heart from frustration and bitterness.
They say: “I don’t know what all the guys are thinking. If I had a son, I’d be sending him to talk to your dad.”
I think: “Since you don’t, how pointless is that to suggest? Besides, I’m glad you don’t have a son. I wouldn’t marry any son of yours anyway.”
A proper response: Recognize that this person just expressed confidence in me as a person of character as well as someone they would appreciate joining their family. That is the Lord’s grace on my life and I should be encouraged that His hand is evident in me. Probably no verbal response is necessary and no mental reflection should be enacted.
Turn sympathy into a chance to praise the Lord.
Paul told the Thessalonians “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things. This is God’s will for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) As women who want to do God’s will and bring Him glory, we should take every opportunity to proclaim the Lord’s goodness.
They say: “You’re not married yet? Well, you’re so (insert flattering comment) I’m sure there’s an amazing man just around the corner for you.”
I think: “People have been telling me that for years. How do you know what’s just around the corner for me? It could be ten more years of singleness. Besides, what does (insert flattering comment) have to do with deserving an amazing man?”
A proper response: Accept that this person is meaning to be kind, then declare the Lord’s goodness. “The Lord has been really blessing me with opportunities to serve Him as a single woman. I know He’ll do what is right and good. He has always been good to me.”
Refocus the conversation on the Lord.
Paul wrote to the believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, making the most of the time, teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. (Ephesians 5:15-21) Sometimes a conversation simply needs to be nudged back in the right direction.
They say: “So, is there a special man in your life?”
I think: “Define special. When there’s someone special enough to be considered special, I’ll let you know. You’re not special enough to be privy to special information.”
A proper response: Accept that this person is interested in my life and doesn’t want to miss anything exciting that’s happening. *without the eye roll, Abigail* “You know, I’ve really been learning a lot lately about what the Lord wants from me as a godly woman…”
As you trail on about the encouraging things you’ve been learning and how you’ve been learning to love the Lord and keep your eyes on Him, your interrogator may do one of two things: be encouraged and uplifted or sink down in a chair with their chin sagging on the floor—never to ask you questions like that again (we hope).
Answer a fool according to his folly.
Proverbs says to “answer a fool according to his folly.” (Proverbs 26:5) Some questions aren’t anyone’s business. Some don’t deserve the dignity of an answer. Some don’t have an answer. Just because it was asked, doesn’t mean it requires your reply. Indiscretion on another’s part doesn’t require indiscretion on your part. Impertinence needn’t be satisfied. I recommend the shrug as a very effective tool for expressing “that’s none of your business, but you don’t know any better, I suppose.”
They say: “You know what? Something’s missing from your house today. Where are all your suitors?”
A proper response: *shrug*
Some suggestions don’t even deserve a serious response. You can pass them off and move on to other topics.
They say: “You don’t have a boyfriend? I have a very handsome grandson you should meet.”
A proper response: “I’m sure you’re proud of your grandson. How long have you lived in AR?”
Some can simply be made light of to relieve embarrassment.
They say: “So, Abigail, when are you getting married?”
A proper response: “Oh, I’m thinking next May. Of course there are some minor details to work out before then.”
Sometimes you should pass the buck.
They say: “So, how many of these young men are head-over-heals in love with you?”
A proper response: “Maybe you should survey them and find out.”
Like water off a duck’s back
After you’ve answered, you should refocus on the Lord and forget about it. My biggest weakness is a festering frustration due to the “helpful” people in my life. I over-evaluate everything, assuming their nosiness is caused by something I’m doing wrong. Do I look like I’m pining away for a husband? Am I acting like I’m “in love” with so-and-so? Do they really just think I’m like that—from one guy to the next? It doesn’t matter. Be pure before the Lord. That’s well-pleasing to Him.
Are you the enemy?
From the other side, if you’re the nosey matchmaker, I’d like to challenge you with a few thoughts. You may think you are expressing love, encouragement or care for a person. Beware lest you are actually adding to a load of frustration. You may be aiding and abetting the enemy. Anything that you do which encourages another person to become distracted from whole-hearted devotion to the Lord and from selfless and unselfconscious love for their neighbor is actually fighting against their best interests and the Lord’s glory.
What is she supposed to do about it?
What are your motives in the questions you’re asking or the suggestions you’re making? Remember that if you’re speaking to a young lady, there’s not a lot she can do when it comes to taking initiative. Nor should she be particularly encouraging attention from a young man who has not been approved by her parents. You may be usurping her parents when you appear to offer your blessing to something they have not blessed.
On the flip-side, if you think she may be too forward or is encouraging attention, you may have reason for questioning. Encouraging attention without intent or without parental blessing is false advertising. If your questions are intended as a gentle rebuke, you should be clear in explaining your perceptions and concerns—please don’t leave her to her own deductions. If you aren’t clearly encouraging her to keep her heart pure you may appear to condone a “defrauding” situation.
What are you encouraging?
Scripture tells us to encourage one another and build each other up and to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24) If you’re encouraging distraction from the Lord, you’re actually tearing down the very things you should be building up. If you’re encouraging young ladies to be discontented, you are like Aaron, who knew better even as he built a golden calf from the Israelites’ most prized possessions. (Exodus 32) Love is encouraging each other to worship the Lord.
Are you usurping?
If you know something she doesn’t, you may be usurping another’s place to tell her. Perhaps her parents want to talk to her about a situation and know her heart. Perhaps a young man is pursuing, but she doesn’t know—to protect her in undistracted devotion to the Lord. If your desire is to “be the first one to know,” check your attitude for selfish motives. Be very careful that you do not reveal secrets. The would-be bride in Song of Solomon warns the town maidens not to question her about her admirer. “Do not arouse or awaken love before its time!” (Song 2:7)
Are you gossiping?
Scripture warns against being busybodies and gossips. When you’re playing the “matchmaking” game, are you being a gossip? Why is the information you’re asking important to you? What do you hope to accomplish by it? Are you going to tell others? Why would you tell others? How will it build you up and encourage you to focus on the Lord? How will it encourage a young lady to focus? Does it build up the body of Christ?
Love extends through every relationship at every time. Whoever you are, whatever your situation in life, you should be practicing love—sacrificial love. Your words and actions should be guarded by love—love for the Lord and love for your neighbor. Jesus says if you cause one of His little ones to stumble, it’s a grave offense! Purity isn’t a check-list of dos and don’ts—it even includes what we encourage in others! We’re to be examples in purity and love. We’re to think on things that are pure. We’re to love from pure hearts. Keep the Lord first. Love your neighbor. That guards purity. That is worship.
Part Three: Love and My Brother
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
* The examples I shared are all things that have been frequently said to me. I’m not advocating the thoughts I expressed as being either pure or loving, I’m just being honest. I still need to work on accepting what is meant in kindness. If these don’t represent your responses, you may appreciate hearing how someone else thinks—especially if these are the kinds of things you have said to others. If these examples are expressive of things you’ve said or done, I’m not trying to pick on you—just trying to give you another perspective on what you may be (unintentionally) accomplishing and challenge you to consider your motives—are they pure? Are they bringing the focus and glory to God?
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Part Four: Love and Marriage
Posted by Abigail
Once upon a time I found myself in the middle of a conversation with a young woman. The topic? Romantic relationships. She was aghast when she discovered that I “don’t date.” “But—but—but,” she spluttered. “How will you ever get married if you don’t date?” “Hmmm,” I stroked my chin, enjoying her perplexity. “I’ll have to think about that one. How many guys have you dated?” She thought for a few minutes before answering something close to a dozen. “And you’re still not married?” I opened my eyes wide, pretending shock and horror before smiling. “Well, if a dozen attempts haven’t found you hitched, it doesn’t really seem to me that dating is making marriage happen for you.”
Created to be his help-meet?
When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he commanded them to go about “romance” in a set-apart way—not in lustful passion like those who don’t know God, and to be careful of defrauding. In so-called “conservative” circles, we recognized the devaluation and pollution of marriage and the entirely impure routes many take to get there. Often we denounce dating as “lustful passion” and “defrauding.” We also see the rejection of God’s wisdom in creating men and women with unique roles. And soon we are creating models and stereotypes of how a romance must progress and preaching slogans like “I’m saving my heart for my husband” and “Biblical courtship” and talking about being maidens in waiting. * We proclaim the importance of marriage and the beauty of being wives and mothers, but sometimes I think we get caught up in the means and forget the end. I think we’re confusing ourselves when we insist that we were created for marriage and child-bearing. Before you stone me and throw me out of the synagogue, hear me out. I counsel crisis clients at a pregnancy center, and every time I go over the information about conception, baby development and birth, I’m overwhelmed by God’s genius in creating women with the unique ability to sustain another human life. You’ll never catch me devaluing that as a woman’s “saving” service. ** And yet, there’s a bigger picture. You weren’t born married. You could have been, but you weren’t.
Let me explain. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And He created a man to care for the earth. But the man needed a helper. So God created a woman and brought her to the man. Eve might as well have been born married. Adam had to have a wife to help him fulfill God’s command to multiply and fill the earth. Eve was created to be his helper. No questions asked. That was the role God gave her when he brought her to the man.
But there was a bigger purpose. Turn to the end of the Book—the Revelation given to John—for the unveiling of why God created the world, why He created man and woman. “You created all things,” the saints proclaim the worthiness of the Lamb “and for Your pleasure they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)
Role vs. Purpose
The revelation is that you and I were created for God’s pleasure. For His glory. To do His will. And we weren’t created married, which means that His pleasure, His will and His glory are more far-reaching than simply being married.
See, when an actress performs in a play, her purpose can’t be simply to play her role. Her role will fall flat and empty if she focuses only on her character. Why? Because she’s missing the bigger picture. The purpose of a play is to tell a story. In order to tell the story, a play incorporates individual characters. So the actress must make her purpose to tell the story, to express the story by playing her role. She must make her role serve the story. She is a part of a whole.
My concern is that, all too often, we miss the bigger picture. By holding up marriage and motherhood as our purpose, we are actually stealing from the story. What I see seeping through the cracks in the marriage goal are a few subtle lies: that marriage will fulfill my needs; that I serve God through marriage, so, in the meantime, I am being prevented from really serving God as I was created to do; that single years are wasted years; that if I am not married, I must not be godly/mature enough; that my reward (of marriage) is based upon my performance (contentedness/purity/domestic skills/etc); that unmarried people are incomplete—just waiting on a spouse so they can truly be useful; that I would be more useful to God if I were married (I know better than He does). As we swallow these lies like our daily vitamins, we come to be self-obsessed. Instead of looking at the bigger picture, the story that God wants to tell of His power, His love and His glory, we’re focused on our role. Instead of making our role serve the story, we just want God to hurry up and write our lines. When will it be my turn to come on stage? How does my costume look? Is this the guy for me? I’m content now…Lord, where is my husband? Soon we are pursuing our role instead of our purpose. We’re obsessed with being wives and mothers, when we should be obsessed with God’s glory.
Ladies, even a pagan can be a wife and mother.
Am I against marriage?
Absolutely not! Godly marriages glorify God. But discontentment does not.
Our purpose is to glorify God. We do this by seeking to understand our role—learning to be obedient women. Being submissive wives and loving mothers is not the end. It’s the means to the end—glorifying God. And it only brings God glory if it springs from submission to God and love for His people.
What does God want from women?
For several years now, I’ve been searching the scriptures to see what God commands me to do. I found an interesting omission. God never commands me to marry. He doesn’t command me to save my heart for my husband. He doesn’t command me to court.
He commands me to love Him with my entire heart. He commands me to love my neighbor as myself. He commands me to view my body as His temple and abstain from sexual immorality. He lays out the blessings and responsibilities of marriage. In fact, He holds forth marriage as a picture of Christ and the church—that’s a pretty glorious role to play—picturing here on earth a spiritual truth as large as God’s eternal plan of divine love and redemption. He also lays out the blessings and responsibilities of singleness. Those whose roles find them unmarried or who have chosen to audition for unmarried roles are to be single-minded. And Paul insists that singleness presents more freedom for service to God. Neither is to covet the role of another. “If you have a wife, do not seek to be free. If you are not married, do not seek a wife.” (1 Corinthians 7:27) He lays out guidelines for relationships—single and married and in-between.
We are not commanded to have a mindset of marriage. We are commanded to have a mindset of love.
Godly women are to love
Love, Biblically speaking begins with Christ’s love for us which enables us to have agape (sacrificial) love for all men, which progresses to phileo (affection) toward Christian brothers and sisters and finally (if God so wills) to romantic love—the deepest human fellowship, reserved in the Lord for one person. When we divorce romance from agape, we have what Paul calls “lustful passion.” Which is impurity. For each of us, it must be agape that inspires phileo and controls romance—within the pure bounds of marriage.
The commands to believers over and over and over again are to love. We are to love Yahweh with all our heart. We are to love our neighbor as our self. Your neighbor always begins with the one closest to you. Married women are to love their neighbors, as well—their husbands and their children. (Titus 2:4) We are to look out for the interests of others, being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor. Our mindset shouldn’t be marriage, but love.
Love Yahweh with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This is obedient womanhood. This is worship.
It is also the foundation for a marriage that mirrors Christ and the Church.
One day it may be these two loves that lead you into a godly marriage. What is marriage if not complete and sacrificial giving of oneself—love? When you understand your purpose is God’s glory, then you can joyfully accept a role of singleness or marriage—for however long the Lord prolongs it. You can understand that God must always claim first place in your affections and that you must always love others as you love yourself. Married or single. This is obedient womanhood. This is worship.
Part Three: Love and My Brother
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
* I’m not trying to attack the goals or purposes of phrases like this, but none of these terms is actually found in scripture. I’d encourage us to be careful to lift the actual scriptural principles higher than our extra-Biblical models and phrases and to be sure our models and phrases are supporting and fitting into the grid-work of scriptural principles. I’ve seen each of these terms pasted on rather varying explanations. Those who advocate these ideals certainly can be/often are upholding Biblical goals, but its not subscribing to a “courtship approach” or claiming to be a “maiden in waiting” or to “saving my heart for my husband” that makes us pure.
** I use the term “saving” role in reference to 1 Timothy 2:15, which speaks of the woman being “saved” or “preserved” through bearing children. It is not her eternal salvation in view here—as though salvation were by works, especially a work over which she actually has little control—but the salvation of her importance in human society. Modern women think they must compete with men to establish their importance, but men cannot compete with women in the thing God considers their most important task. What will become of the human race if women cease to raise children?
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Part Three: Love and My Brother
Posted by Abigail
I grew up guarded. By my late teens, I’d apparently developed a reputation for distance. One spring, I arrived at Lauren’s dorm room for a week-long visit, to be greeted by an enormous mirror scrawled with survival tips—from a couple of my brother’s friends. “Be more friendly to guys,” came one sage command. But my careful aloofness was shattered shortly after moving to Arkansas. Our home was suddenly full of young men, eager to be part of a family, unwilling to permit me to live a hermit’s existence. And what was I to do? When a boy lives in your house overnight…or for a week…or a month…all pretense of distance and limits on interaction die a slow and painful death. He becomes your brother. Except that he’s not.
I found myself up late at night, with my brother and a few “extras,” working through life issues, studying the scriptures, playing games, singing praises, praying and offering advice. Then suddenly one day I made a horrible discovery.
All these guys that were hanging around? I loved them. Not just an “oh I would serve them because Jesus says to” love, but a genuine, sisterly affection. I wanted their good. I missed them when they were out of town. I hurt when they hurt. I cared what was happening in their lives. I appreciated hearing their thoughts. I wanted to encourage them and see them cheerfully serving the Lord.
Oh no.
As I wrestled with guilt, feeling that I’d somehow lost my “kept” heart, I began to search the scriptures to see what the Lord had to say to me. And I found three basic principles to guide and guard my actions.
Love your neighbor
“What is the greatest commandment?” a lawyer asked Jesus, and the Lord’s response was two-fold. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.” He dealt with the heart of worship. Love God. But then He added, “And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” He explained that on these two commands hang the entire Law and Prophets. (Matthew 22:35-40) “By this will all men know that you are mine,” Jesus taught His disciples, “If you have love for one another. A new commandment I give you—love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34-35)
God is calling us to love our fellow believers. * In fact, it’s the natural result of fellowship—brotherly affection. We begin with sacrificial love—as Christ has loved us, we lay down our lives for the brethren, and the return is an emotional response. (1 John 3:16) Paul writes in many of his letters that he has a fond affection for the believers. Never does he discriminate between the men and the women. In Christ, they are unified in spirit. In Christ, they are his beloved brothers and sisters.
Don’t be a cheater
To the specific topic of purity, Paul speaks a severe warning. “Do not go farther and defraud your brother in the matter, for God is the avenger.” Simply stated, Paul warns us not to take what doesn’t belong to us in a relationship. This, too is guided by love. First, love for the Lord, then love for your brother. What rightly belongs to another person? To God belongs your heart. To your Christian brothers and sisters belongs sacrificial love (as worship to God) and brotherly affection. Only to a spouse belongs ahab— romantic love. This is what must be carefully guarded—by sacrificial love—as worship to God.
Be a sister
“Treat the younger women as sisters, in all purity,” Paul told his disciple, Timothy. (1 Timothy 5:2) Sisters, in all purity. “What does this look like?” I’ve had girls ask me. “I’m really close with my brothers—it just doesn’t seem like it would be pure for me to treat other guys the way I treat them.” Growing up with two close brothers myself, I wrestled this question until I was exhausted. And then, one day, I understood.
Purity is a heart attitude. What is your heart attitude toward your brothers? Are you trying to impress them by your beauty, your talents or even your godliness? Are you constantly placing them in the balance with your husband checklist? Do you watch them constantly for some little sign of interest? Hardly. You love your brothers and you want what’s best for them. What is best for them? To serve the Lord whole-heartedly. To seek Him first. To grow and mature.
“Let love of the brethren continue,” the writer of Hebrews encourages. Brotherly love is pure. It flows from a heart that is “kept” by God and it encourages our brothers to worship with us. Here’s a snapshot of what brotherly love looks like.
Brotherly love is pure because it is honest
“Love without hypocrisy,” Paul wrote in Romans chapter twelve and then he spelled out a particular description of “true love.” Abhor evil, cling to good, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor, diligent, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering, devoted to prayer, contributing to the saints needs, practicing hospitality, don’t be haughty but associate with the lowly. We’re not talking about blurting out “I love you.” We’re talking about sacrifice without any pretending. “Little children, let’s not just love in word,” John wrote in his affectionate letter. “But in action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18) There is no pretense in brotherly love. Honest love meets purity when your goal is not to capture a heart, but simply to serve the Lord and His saints.
Brotherly love is pure because it is not self-seeking
What is your goal? 1 Corinthians 13 proclaims that love does not seek its own. It’s not looking to promote itself or its own agenda. That certainly tosses actions like flirtation and innuendo right into the “hypocrisy” basket. “Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4) What would edify my brother? What would encourage my brother? What would bring my brother’s focus to the Lord? Sacrificial love meets purity when your goals are to promote the interests of the Lord and His saints.
Brotherly love is pure because it does not show favoritism
James delivered a stout rebuke to those who picked favorites. “Do not treat your faith in our Lord with an attitude of personal favoritism.” (James 2:1) We’re commanded to love the brethren—that’s all of them. Honest love leads us to associate with the lowly. (Romans 12:16) When you serve, you must serve all indiscriminately—the young man you might marry some day and the old woman that you wish would wear matching socks. You are not to give or withhold love or service on the basis of age, ethnicity, background, beauty or gender. Christ certainly did not. All must be treated as Christ, that all may know you are His. Indiscriminate love meets purity when you treat every person in Christ’s body as Christ Himself.
Brotherly love is pure because it expects no return
“When you give a feast,” came Jesus’ directions on hospitality, “Invite the poor…who can’t pay you back.” (Luke 14:7-15) Remember that “freely you received, so freely you must give.” (Matthew 10:8) God poured out His love and grace on you, showering you with a mercy you can never possibly return. He commands you to “give preference to one another in honor.” (Romans 12:10) “He who gives to the poor is lending to the Lord…and the Lord will repay Him.” (Proverbs 19:17) God has blessed you richly. To freely pour out the same love you have freely received is worship. Prodigal love meets purity when you are loving without thought of the love being returned.
Brotherly love is pure because it is eternal
Faith, hope and love are the cornerstones of the Christian faith. “But the greatest of these,” Paul writes, “is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) Faith will one day become sight. Hope will one day be realized. Love will continue. Romance, as we know it, will last only this lifetime. Jesus said there will be no marrying or giving in marriage in heaven. (Matthew 22:30) But brotherly love will still unite us at the throne of Christ. Eternal love meets purity when it recognizes that everything must have an eternal perspective—what does not bear fruit in eternity is of little value.
Brotherly love is pure because it points toward Christ
Because we must love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind, we recognize that this is the highest call on the heart, soul and mind of every person. To love the Lord first and then to love our neighbor as our self, we must consciously strive to point every person to the cross, the grave, the sky. The love that worships beside another person is pure. We must be controlled by love, walking in love, pure in Christ. “The love of Christ controls us having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all so that those who live may no longer live for themselves but for Him who died.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) Christ-centered love meets purity when you keep Jesus the center of every relationship.
The world doesn’t understand brotherly love—it’s something unique to Christ’s disciples. “This is how they’ll know that you’re mine,” the Lord said. It doesn’t fit the grid for the world’s definitions: on the one hand, take whatever you can get. On the other: protect yourself.
We recently shared with you the results of a survey on purity. The purpose of this survey was to instruct us so that we can love in wisdom—understanding more clearly what our actions suggest. But no set of rules or boundaries can entirely protect—ourselves or our brothers. Keep in mind that love for the Lord and love for your neighbor should always be the guiding influence. Had the Good Samaritan been a woman, I think they Lord would have still desired her to show love by helping her “neighbor.”
The kind of love God requires isn’t self-protection. It’s risky. It’s dangerous. It can be painful. But it is second only to loving God. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The pure heart loves the Lord and seeks to encourage others to do the same.
Part Three: Love and My Brother
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
* A few commands to love our brothers:
(agape—sacrificial): John 13:34; John 15: 12; Romans 13:8; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:12; 1 Thess. 3:12; Heb. 10:24; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 3:16; 2 John 1:5;
(phileo—brotherly affection): Romans 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 13: 1; 1 Pet. 3:8;
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Part Two: Love and My Heart
Posted by Abigail
The Valentine’s Day just past left me with plenty of fodder for the mental camel I’ve been feeding. Over and over again were the expressions of devotion “You have my heart!” or the pleas “Be mine.” Giving and exchanging of heart-shaped candy and heart-covered cards left impressions of hearts popping out of the heads of every couple I passed. Modern music speaks much of the heart, but the father in Proverbs had some thoughts on the issue, as well. He warned his son of the dangers of impurity, encouraged him to be faithful to the wife of his youth and exhorted “Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Proverbs describes temptations not unlike our own and speaks of the wisdom of “keeping” what the world would tempt us to give.
>Keep:
The Hebrew word translated “keep” has a lot more depth to it than four letters might imply. It means a conglomeration of watching, maintaining, guarding, protecting, preserving, even concealing or surviving a siege (mostly negative connotation). The word is nearly identical in purpose to the command given in the Garden of Eden, when Adam was placed in the garden to cultivate and “keep” it. (Genesis 2:15) *
Just what was Adam’s task? To keep the soil soft, healthy, bearing good fruit. To protect it from weeds. To cultivate healthy, fruit-bearing plants. Why? To bring God glory.
The Creation story tells us that man and woman were created in God’s image and when we skip to the end we see God’s purpose. “Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) God created you a unique woman, in His image, to bring Him glory. You belong to Him, heart, soul, mind and body.
The heart of the matter
To keep, to guard, to maintain, to protect our heart, we’ve got to understand to Whom it belongs. The answer is not “to ourselves.” The answer is not “to our husband (wherever he is and whenever God wills to reveal him to us, etc, etc).” When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind…” (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27) Over and over, Yahweh complained of Israel’s unfaithfulness. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (Isaiah 29:13) He described the worship issue in graphic language as adultery. In the New Testament, Paul describes our bodies as God’s temples and explains that purity is a worship issue. (1 Corinthians 6:19) “Lust, covetousness, impurity, greed…which amounts to idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
God commanded us to love Him. We failed. We chose other gods, other lovers, other things. That’s the story of scripture. Adam and Eve failed to love the Lord with their hearts, minds and souls—instead they sought to know good and evil experientially, they sought knowledge elsewhere and the fellowship between man and God was destroyed. This was the relationship that you and I inherited at birth: enmity with God. But God was never surprised and He was willing to offer His redeeming love to buy us back from slavery to the other things we had pursued. Hosea pictures for us the power of redemption as he buys back his adulterous wife. God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners—enemies of God—He gave His own precious Son to buy us back.
Why am I recounting the gospel story for you? Because when God bought you back, He made you a new creature, able to have intimate fellowship with Him. By the Holy Spirit’s power you are able to love God. “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) God created you once, and you belong to Him. Then He bought you back by redeeming love. Is there any question that you belong to Him?
You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart. The world will never have an accurate view of love because the world does not know God.
The Idols We Serve
Why did Hosea’s wife keep fleeing him and returning to her life of sin and degradation? Didn’t she have exactly what so many Christian girls long for today? A godly, compassionate husband and several beautiful children? Still her heart wandered to fields that did not belong to her, and where her heart wandered, her feet followed. Discontentment, we call it.
Lust. Greed. Covetousness.
God calls it “idolatry.”
The idols of Israel’s unfaithfulness were made of wood, gold and stone—materials that God had created, that were good, that served a purpose–in fact, materials that were used to build His own temple. It wasn’t the materials that caused the idolatry. It was the hearts of the people that sought for something they could touch and feel to complete them. In a similar way, romance, marriage and motherhood are not evil. They have been created by God and are holy—when surrendered to Him. But whenever we pursue, worship or serve our desires—even godly desires—we allow them to usurp the place that only Yahweh can fill.
Discontentment, we call it.
God calls it “idolatry.”
Pursue the dream-giver
You’ve seen the young woman everyone says is “glowing.” She’s the one “in love,” the one everyone watches with whispers and chuckles. Her every thought is to please her lover. She talks about him constantly. She talks to him every chance she gets. She can’t wait to be with him and when she is, her eyes are fixed on his face. She’s like a garden soaking up the spring rain and flourishing. Hosea, the faithful husband, proclaims the Lord’s faithfulness and the refreshment found in His presence. “Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn and He will come to us like the spring rain watering the earth.” (Hosea 6:3)
Your heart is like a parched garden—it longs for fulfillment. Your Divine Lover created you to respond to His offer of divine love. Scripture says He jealously desires the spirit that He has made to dwell within us. (James 4:5) The Father in Proverbs says the heart must be diligently kept for from it flows the springs of life. The Father seeks worshipers, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, and He promised her springs of living water—welling up inside of her to eternal life. (John 4:14) Press on to know the Lord and He will come to you—bringing refreshment, bringing life.
In God’s economy, giving is keeping. If you lose your life for Christ, you will gain it for eternity. If you give to the poor, the Lord will repay you. If you want to keep your heart, you must pour it before the Lord. Paul wrote to the Philippians not to be anxious, but to pour everything with prayer and petition and thanksgiving at the feet of Christ. “And,” he promised, “the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) If you pour your heart, your grief, your struggles, your pain, yourself out in extravagant worship, you will find it guarded, protected and healed. You will find it softened, growing with good things. You will keep your heart. For God’s glory.
Purity and worship
Whenever anxiety enters, when other things vie for your attention, when your biological clock is ticking so loudly it is waking the neighbors or when that godly young man gives a good answer at Bible study, you must keep your heart. You must know it, you must guard it, you must conceal it, you must cultivate it. It’s not that desires are ungodly, but even godly desires must find a place in the kingdom of God. Jesus encouraged His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:25-34) The Father knows what you need before you ask. Above all else, He knows you need Him.
Seize every distraction as a redirection to focus on the Lord. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Seek the Lord.
Jesus blessed the pure in heart. “They shall see God,” He said. (Matthew 5:18) He accepted into His service women at whom others looked askance. Others saw only the scars of the past. Jesus probed into hearts and found them washed clean, restored and redeemed through the prodigal grace of God. ** When a woman of shady reputation poured a vial of expensive perfume over the feet of the Lord, she was pouring out her heart, despite the cold condemnation of those witnessing the act. But Jesus accepted this extravagant worship with the words, “he who is forgiven much, loves much.” (Luke 7:36-50) As forgiven women, let us never forget to love much. Purity is a heart attitude that springs from devotion to Christ.
A “kept” heart is a heart that has chosen the best part—the place at Jesus’ feet.
Part Three: Love and My Brother
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
* A few interesting uses of the Hebrew words translated “keep/guard”: Gen. 3:24; Gen. 17:10; Gen. 28:15; Gen. 30:31; Ex. 12:25; Ex. 15:26; Ex. 20:6; Ex. 23:20; Lev. 18:26; Num. 6:24; Deu. 5:1; Ps. 12:7; Ps. 25:10; Ps. 34:13; Ps. 78:7; Ps. 89:28; Ps. 91:11; Ps. 105:41 (contains both words); Ps. 119 (uses both interchangeably, repeatedly); Ps. 127:1 (same word used for “keep” and “watchman”); Proverbs; Ecc. 3:6; Is. 26:3; Is. 27:3; Jer. 3:5; Ez. 20:19; Dan. 9:4; Hos. 12:6; Mic. 7:5; Nah. 2:11; Mal. 2:7
** Prodigal (adjective): 1. wastefully or recklessly extravagant. 2. giving or yielding profusely; lavishly abundant. The “prodigal son” was wastefully and recklessly extravagant with his inheritance—an evil thing. Mary of Bethany was lavishly abundant with her worship—a pure thing. God is prodigal with the grace He bestows on us—extravagant, profuse and lavishly abundant. Praise Him!
Part One: Love and Purity
Posted by Abigail
Several years ago, I received a Facebook invitation to take a “purity quiz” and see how I rated. Curious, I clicked over. Not surprisingly, I ranked something like “angelic”—entirely due to activities I had or hadn’t participated in–including marriage. I shook my head and blinked—had Lauren been taking this quiz, she’d have lost “purity points” simply by virtue of being married. In fact, her reputation would have been severely tarnished by the fact that she kissed her husband—never mind that it wasn’t until their wedding day. Girls I know who are now shining examples of purity would have been ranked something like akin to purity’s pond-scum due to pre-Christ actions—forgiven actions. Oh, friends, a girl could obsess about boys, flirt with boys, read romance novels, fantasize—even look at pornography and still come out “angelic.” But she couldn’t be married. She couldn’t have kissed her husband on her wedding day.
It wasn’t that long ago that Britney Spears was held up as an icon—a “good girl”–a “virgin.” Now her name conjures up shudders of horror. Something happened. What went wrong?
As I clicked the browser closed I thought, “Something is terribly skewed with our perception of purity.”
For what is “True Love” waiting?
Swimming against the current is never easy, and when it comes to the issue of purity, sometimes it feels like we’ll be swept away in the filth of modern “love.”
We easily recognize the destruction of “love” by a society so devoid of anything holy. In the name of love, God’s commands are broken, vows are broken, marriages are broken, hearts are broken. The world surrounding us has a broken image of love glorified in the public unveiling of sex and the rampant cheapening of romance. Both have become a commodity sold on billboards on every highway, advertised by every form of media and sported on a million living models. To the world “love” is a multi-million dollar industry—a never ceasing effort to capture in a tangible way the elusive spark of intimacy.
In the midst of the madness, some say purity is coming back into style. In an effort to swim against the “Love is Sex” current, the “True Love Waits” campaign has spawned a fad of rings and t-shirts and banquets and merchandise to encourage “purity pledges.” But the statistics surrounding the “True Love Waits” movement are hardly encouraging.*
As godly young women see the “True Love Waits” advocates being swept into an ocean of temptation and technicality, they wring their hands and cry for answers. In the effort to protect “true love” the boundaries are often pushed back, one step at a time. “True Love Waits” preaches purity as “saving sex for marriage.” A boundary of “saving sex for marriage” is like starting down a water slide thinking you won’t get to the bottom. So, where do we draw the line? Well, kissing leads to sex, I won’t kiss. Holding hands leads to kissing, I won’t hold hands. Dating leads to holding hands, I won’t date. Emotional attachment leads to dating, I won’t get emotionally attached. Friendship leads to emotional attachment, I won’t be friends with boys. Talking leads to friendship, I won’t talk to boys. Eye contact leads to talking, I won’t make eye contact with boys. Being in the same room with boys leads to eye contact, I won’t be in the same room with boys. HELP! There are boys everywhere tempting me to break my purity pledge! They keep walking into the room!
From our fogged understanding another skewed perception of purity is formed. Subconsciously we are accepting the word’s definitions and understandings—“falling in love” leads to sex and purity is saving sex for marriage, so if we are really going to accomplish purity, we’re going to have to protect ourselves from “falling in love.” At least until we marry, at which time suddenly we will fall in love and ta-da! Everything will be perfect and pure. Essentially, we’re not supposed to love boys. Which breaks down, in so many words, to a horrible lie: that love is impure and purity is unloving. If we want to be pure, we can’t risk loving. So we create rules: no dating, no best guy friends, no talking to guys, no looking at guys period! And no matter how pure our intentions are, how well we keep our own rules, they simply don’t work. I promise. Suddenly one morning, we wake up and realize that we’re crushing on a guy we’ve never even looked at. (He sure gives good answers at Bible study, though.) In anguish and frustration, we tear out our hair crying “How did this happen? I did everything right!”
Be an example—in love and purity!
Paul left his son in the faith—his protégé–Timothy, in Ephesus, strengthening the church, establishing order as Paul’s apostle and wrote him some guidelines for his conduct as a younger Christian. “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:12) He charged Timothy to be an example—in love and purity!
An example in love and purity—to those who believe. Love and purity not only do coexist, but must coexist! Scripturally, love is not something a person can “fall into.” Neither is impurity. Both are choices that we make, often one tiny moment at a time. To understand just what the Lord wants of us, let’s get back to the Bible for our definitions of love and purity.
>Purity
The Bible uses the word “purity” to refer to doctrine, wisdom, thoughts, religion, hearts, devotion—and in its most simple form it means: undefiled. **
>Love
Scripture commands two kinds of love: phileo (Greek–brotherly affection) and agape (Greek–sacrificial love). It also speaks of several forms of romantic love (various Hebrew variants of ahab). All are created by God and intended to be pure. And all must flow first and foremost from devotion to God. ***
The world has a terribly skewed perception of purity for a simple reason: purity is not a set of rules. It’s not a have or have not check-list. In many cases acts are, of themselves, not impure, but motives direct whether our actions are pure or impure. Jesus said “out of the heart proceeds…impurity.” And “he who looks at a woman to lust has committed adultery already in his heart.”
Purity is a heart issue. And rather than denying love, it is actually empowered, guided and guarded by love.
If you want to be pure, you must love.
Because love is pure and purity is loving.
Part Three: Love and My Brother
Part Five: Love and Matchmaking
*READ WITH CARE: A study done by the New York Times reveals that, of teens who take the “True Love Waits” pledge, the majority break them. Many Christian girls perceive purity as a “technical virginity”
**A few appearances of purity: Job 11:4; Psalm 12:6; Psalm 18:26; Psalm 24:4; Proverbs 15:26; Proverbs 20:11; Zeph. 3:9; Matt. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:5; 1 Tim. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3; Tit. 1:15; Jas. 1:27; Jas. 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2 Pet. 3:1.
** *A few appearances of agape: Matt. 5:43; Matt. 6:24; Matt. 19:19; Matt. 22:37; Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:33; Luke 6:27; Luke 7:42; Luke 10:27; Luke 16:13; John 5:42; John 8:42; John 10:17; John 13:34; John 14:15; John 15:9; John 15:12&13; Rom. 5:8; Rom. 8:28; Rom. 8:35; Rom. 12:9; Rom. 13:8; Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 13; 2 Cor. 5:14; 2 Cor. 12:15; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2; Eph. 5:2; Eph. 5:25; Phil. 1:9; Col. 3:19; 1 Thess. 3:12; 2 Tim. 1:7; 1 John 3:11; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:19; 1 John 4:21; 2 John 1:6.
A few appearances of phileo: John 21:15; Rom. 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; Tit. 3:15; Heb. 13:1; 1 Pet. 3:8; Rev. 3:19;
A few appearances of romantic love: Gen. 29:20; Judg. 16:15; 2 Sam. 1:26; 2 Sam. 13:4; 1 Kin. 11:2; Pro. 4:6; Pro. 5:19; Ecc. 3:8; Song of Solomon; Ez. 16:8; Ez. 23:11; Hos. 3:1.
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Love Means a Cross
Chew on this…
When you are not yet married, or when your marriage is over and you look back on those years with longing, it is without doubt quite possible to idealize it. But there is one thing which enters into all of life, one thing which will keep us from idealizing life’s best and will make bearable life’s worst, and that is the Cross. The Cross must enter into marriage. “Who loveth suffereth too.”
The Cross enters the moment you recognize a relationship as a gift. The One who gives it may withdraw it at any time, and knowing this, you give thanks in the receiving. Desiring above all else to do the will of God, you offer back to Him this greatest of all earthly gifts as an oblation, lifted up in worship and praise, with faith that in the offering it will be transformed for the good of others.
This is what sacrifice means. This is why the Cross of Christ “towers o’er the wrecks of time.” Love is sacrificial. Sacrifice is giving, and offering up, and the meaning of sacrifice in the Bible is the giving of life to another.
~ Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be A Woman, 1976
…and tell us what you think.
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Observations on the Survey
While gathering results for the Jealousy Survey, a few interesting trends stood out. We surveyed as diverse a group of men as we could on short notice—making only one requirement: all were professing believers. Ages ranged from something like 18 to 60, with a variety of backgrounds, including some internationals and those with multi-cultural influences. They also represented a variety of single men, dating men, courting men, engaged men, divorced men, married men and fathers of daughters our ages. The trends seem rather revealing, so we’re sharing them with you.
*On the issue of deep spiritual/personal conversation, many men clarified that there would be little or no issue if the conversation were a group setting instead of private. In a similar manner, discipleship by a couple, dinner with a couple, road trips with a couple were expressed as non-issues. Alone is the threat. Privacy = intimacy.
*The internationals seemed to be rather lenient on the issue of light kissing. In many other cultures a light kiss is actually a very standard greeting—about like a handshake or a hug in our culture. In case you were wondering.
*Hugging was a complete split. Some of the men expressed that they didn’t think they would mind their wife side-hugging a man that they fellowshipped with regularly and trusted. A stranger? That typically aroused jealousy. Others would didn’t want anyone hugging their wife at all.
*The married men tended to be less jealous about hugs. They also mentioned that they might possibly rather send their wife on a road trip with a trusted friend or older man than send her alone. It’s possible that, having been married, they could more easily imagine exception situations. The variation we saw in married men’s answers leads us to suggest that a married woman may actually have more “freedom” than a single woman—because of her husband’s authority and protection. If you are married, we recommend that you seek your own husband’s guidance on each of these issues—he may be one who is not at all bothered by a hug—or he may find it absolutely improper. You answer to the Lord first and to your husband next.
*With the chatting or talking one-on-one issues, the men responded that jealousy would be present any time a wife is communicating more with another man than with them. Or is more excited about talking to another man. Perhaps this suggests that “special treatment” is a husband’s special prerogative?
*It was almost amusing hearing the many explanations of what would be done or said to the other man—usually rather emotionally-charged doings or sayings. Aimed at the other man? Rarely were the negative emotions directed toward the wife in question. Questions about this trend were answered, “That’s because the men ought to know better.” It appears that men hold men mostly responsible for relationship boundaries. This fits with scriptural patterns of men as pursuers and women as responders, as well as the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 dealing with “not defrauding your brother.” If men are to “take a wife” they should also be careful not to “take” what doesn’t belong to them. To the men we suspect are lurking, we suggest that you should be carefully guarding the interests of your Christian brothers by guarding the women around you. Paul told the Colossian Christians “Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also the interests of others.”
Our thanks goes out to the guys who participated in the survey as well as Abigail’s brother Josiah, his friend Tommy, and a couple of girl friends who helped get the survey out and answered!
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What Makes a Husband Jealous?
“You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul and mind,” Yahweh charged Israel in His greatest commandment, but the hearts of the people turned away to foreign gods and their minds strayed to sin and self. “You have committed adultery against Me,” Yahweh warned. “I am a jealous God.” Through the prophet Ezekiel, Yahweh graphically described Israel’s adultery, painting a revolting picture of lewdness and impurity.
To the church of Corinth, Paul wrote as God’s emissary, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” (2 Corinthians 11:2)
The adultery Yahweh charged Israel with was in giving to another god what rightly belonged to Him—heart, soul and mind in worship. Paul’s jealous guard over the purity of the bride of Christ was to preserve their minds in the purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ. Devotion–the minds of believers rightly belong to Christ. We tend to think of jealousy as an evil, but Paul speaks of a godly jealousy. God’s jealousy was over what rightly belonged to Him. Paul was jealous on behalf of Christ, over what rightly belonged to Him.
As I worked over the post dealing with God’s Will: Your Sanctification, I came head to head with the issue of defrauding—cheating, taking what rightly belongs to another. With the words “The Lord is the avenger,” I was reminded of the jealous husband’s test in Numbers 5—and the curse upon the woman who had “gone astray into uncleanness.” As I pondered, I began to wonder what would be rightly considered a husband’s? Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 7 that the wife’s body belongs to her husband, and his body belongs to her. Wouldn’t it be godly then for a husband and wife to be jealous over each other’s bodies? What else might they be jealous over? Each other’s emotions? Devotion? Time? Affection? Attention? I’d often considered purity in relationships, but I’d never before thought of it in terms of what would make a husband jealous. The traditional wedding vows proclaim to “forsake all others, clinging only to you.” I began to consider the implications of Paul’s words to the churches of his day regarding purity and marriage. Marriage should not be sought in lustful passion, as the pagans, but in set-apartness and honor. He warned us not to go beyond and defraud—because God is the avenger. This warning suggests that, even if no one else ever knows that we have “cheated”—gone beyond what was rightly ours—God knows and we will reap the consequences in our lives and hearts.
Ladies, what I’m proposing is that we carefully consider what rightfully belongs to God as the first step in purity. “Love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Worship and serve Yahweh only.” And we carefully guard and preserve that for Yahweh only. That we consider what rightfully belongs to those around us. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” A sacrificial love, based on Christ’s love for us, offered without thought of gain. This, too, is worship of God. And, in purity, that we consider what rightfully belongs only to a husband. Even if we never marry, there are some things that no one is authorized to claim outside of a marriage covenant. I propose that we jealously protect and preserve this until such a time as, covenanted in marriage, we can freely and purely pour it out in worship to God. God is the avenger, because our purity is an integral part of our worship of Him.
These thoughts in mind, Lauren and I constructed a survey to try and help us understand what things would make a husband jealous. We created a series of hypothetical questions, based on many of the debates/teachings we’d heard regarding “purity” boundaries, placed those situations into a marriage scenario and surveyed 50 men from very different backgrounds and denominations–single men, dating men, courting men, engaged men, married men and men with daughters our ages—without giving an explanation for our questions. We wanted unbiased feelings from a range of perspectives. We reasoned that those things which provoked jealousy in a husband are likely to be good indicators of what rightly belongs to a husband only—and therefore what we should be jealously guarding from any man to whom we are not married.
We’ll admit that we were surprised by the clarity the results seemed to cast on “grey areas.” We’re talking about activities that many youth pastors would advocate as still “chaste” and would leave a “True Love Waits” pledge unbroken. Many of the men expressed that they were deeply disturbed in considering their wife engaging in many of these activities—few thought “jealous” even covered their feelings on the topic. God used graphic word-imagery to express Israel’s adultery–to inspire our horror and disgust. We’ve tried to be as discreet as possible in dealing with these issues, but this is a serious affair. Impurity should provoke our horror and disgust. We’re sharing the results with you and we encourage you to consider carefully guarding what these men express as provoking jealousy. In the areas that are expressed as depending on circumstances, prayerfully, carefully let your actions be guarded by love—focus on the Lord first and what will bring Him glory and then pursue sacrificial love toward your neighbor–what will cause them to focus on the Lord. The excellent wife does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life, and his heart trusts in her.
See the survey results here:
What Makes a Husband Jealous: The Survey
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Love is a verb
The following entry in one of my old journals–nearly five years old–turned out to be a convicting reminder of the simple practices of love. In five years, I fear I have not greatly improved in this area at all. Yet, God is faithful to remind me–even through the medium of my own pen. –Abigail Joy
I need to exert more effort in loving by:
*Not talking about myself
Esp. accomplishments, things I think I did well, funny things I did or said, speech contests, things I have written, things I have made, things I want to do. Instead I will ask questions about others.
(This will allow others to have the glory instead of trying to gain it for myself)
*Taking time to think positively
Instead of allowing myself to dwell on negative circumstances, or other’s negative traits, I need to intentionally look for the potential good and for good qualities
(This will raise my estimation of others, make treating them with respect easier and lower my own self-righteousness)
*Taking time to serve
Esp. small unnoticed things for which I won’t be thanked and tasks that I dislike.
(This will turn my mind from my own agenda and make me less resentful when asked to go out of my way for someone else)
These three simple things should help make me more loving by fostering patience, kindness, humility, gentleness, service and endurance and should help eliminate angry outbursts, grumbling, sudden selfishness, taking offenses, rudeness, impatience and envy.
Love is a verb.
I must take action!
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O to be a godly woman!
There’s a verse I’ve been meditating on for quite some time now, and I’m seeking to apply it to my life. I want to be a godly woman who represents Jesus Christ my Savior and my God in all that I do and in all that I am. Here’s the verse:
Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. ~1 Timothy 3:11
It’s a simple verse, really, and based on context, it is probably referring to qualifications for the wife of a “deacon” (the Gk means “servant”). Questions come to my mind: What does it mean to be dignified? The original meaning of the word is more easily understood in my opinion; it means to be “venerable”, or respectable/honorable. The Strong’s definition also says “serious”. I take this to mean that my character ought to be appropriate and honorable–in and of itself, as well as unto the Lord–and show that I take life and following God seriously. Do my words and deeds bring honor to the name of Christ? Or does my immaturity reflect poorly on Him? Do I take His word seriously and apply it to my life? Or do I read it and move on without seriously considering how what God says affects me? Do I realize how my actions affect those around me–and even generations to come? Do I consider these things enough to live for something more serious and more worthwhile than seeking my own pleasure in this world or simply living from day to day without serious, godly purposefulness? These are some searching questions that have helped me to look before I leap. (Be sure of this though: serious living is anything but drudgery and boredom. When we truly begin to live serious lives for God, we know the greatest joy that there is! And that is further motivation for taking God seriously–the fact that HE is the source of TRUE JOY for a believer! ~Psalm 16:11) 🙂
The next phrase is pretty self-explanatory: “not malicious gossips.” Now, it’s easy to say, No! Of course I’m not a malicious gossip! But we ladies need to watch what is in our nature–talking about others in such a way as to make them look worse and/or ourselves look better comes quite naturally! And we especially need to watch out for this in light of the prevalence of “prayer-request gossip”. Honestly examine your words. Does what I say give grace to those who hear? (Ephesians 4:29) Or does it tear others down? No matter what someone else may have done, do I honor them as having been created in God’s image, or do I cut them down by my words (whether they are present or not)? (James 3:9-10) This is a good way to identify if we are truly loving others, for “out of the heart the mouth speaks” (Jesus in Matthew 15:18-19).
“But temperate…” Some of you may have guessed that this word means “sober” if you thought of the temperance movement early in the 1900s. This understanding is consistent throughout Scripture–that we ought not to be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Since I don’t drink, this isn’t an area of struggle for me, but the principle can apply to other aspects of life–Do I allow God’s Holy Spirit to control me? Or do I allow things in this world to intoxicate me to the point that I don’t listen to His Word? Be watchful of distractions that might steal your heart from the Lord Jesus. I know I need to be watchful for them in my own life.
And FINALLY, this is the part of the verse that hits me the hardest: FAITHFUL IN ALL THINGS. That’s no small task! In fact, that makes a big deal out of every task! That I would be faithful, dependable, consistent…even in the small things or the monotonous things–that I would truly do everything with all my heart as unto the Lord, with the aim of bringing Him glory (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:15-16). Oh that everything I set out to do I would do so as to present it as a love offering to my King! In my own conviction, this doesn’t seem to leave room for lazy procrastination. Nor does it mean I must be a workaholic, either. But that I would seek to glorify God in all that I do, pray and choose wisely what things to commit myself to, and then do those few things with all of the energy and grace that God supplies. WOW! I struggle to do that! I pray that God would shape me into a faithful woman–faithful to Him IN ALL THINGS–in obedience to His word first of all, and then in applying myself to the responsibilities and good deeds He has prepared for me. What amazing grace it is that God would concern Himself with the affairs of men! That He takes pleasure in His children learning to follow Him faithfully–OH! and that He gives them the grace and guidance through His word to do just that! What an amazing God!
Grace and Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus the Lord!
Pearls and Diamonds 