Purity

 

 Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure of heart.” This is the only answer to your question about relationships between young men and women. The fight against the Tempter goes on everywhere. Jesus says we should rather pluck out an eye than look lustfully at a woman. Only this attitude can give us a pure heart. We cannot make our hearts pure with our own efforts, but we can take this attitude, and then God will help us to victory.

 Purity of heart comes as a gift from God, and the church must fight to protect it. We oppose lust just as much as we oppose private property and the spirit of murder. Purity is God’s will, and every wedding in the church must be a testimony to it, as also the life of every member. Purity is a blessing. Whether it is given in a marriage or to a single person, a great grace lies on a pure life.

We must not underestimate the armies of impure spirits that drive man to evil. When we play with impurity, we put ourselves under the dominion of demons, and our sexuality –which is meant to be a wonderful experience of God – becomes a terrible and life-destroying experience. This is true not only in prostitution, but also when a person satisfies himself through committing impure acts on his own body. A man should not think he can indulge in masturbation without suffering harm from it; he hurts God and himself in doing so. He allows evil spirits to dwell within him–devils of whose cruel character he has no inkling – and an atmosphere of evil will come from him.

The blatant impurity shown on television and in magazines and movies is a publicly committed crime, and we must protest it. It ruins the souls of children and young people. Everything has become permissible– one thinks, for instance, of how homosexual acts have been legalized –and it has done terrific harm to the purity of the young. Something in the conscience of man has been killed.

 In the end, lust leads to murder –just think of the limitless numbers of abortions that have taken place since it became legal. And think of the mental agony that young girls and women suffer who are guilty of killing the child in their womb. The number of mental breakdowns that result from this are incalculable. Jesus is the only answer to all this, and we must unitedly testify to his way in a world that has grown very dark.

When a person gratifies sexual impulses on his own body, he harms his soul, which is made in God’s image. It is desecration to employ something destined for a sublime end in a manner contrary to that destiny. In the same way that royalty would be debased by being enslaved, so man debases his noble destiny as an image of God when he abuses his own body sexually.

Dear brother, it is not necessary for your whole life to be cramped up in a struggle for personal purity. But you must give up all secret attraction to impurity. That is where your inner cramping comes from. Jesus can free you completely of this. If you know you are utterly dependent on him, then there is hope for you.

Dear sister, it seems to me that there is an atmosphere of eroticism around you, and I want to warn you about this. There is nothing surprising about the fact that the powers of eroticism and sex are problems any person has to face, and you are no different from anyone else. But I plead with you to value the gift of purity–the light of absolute chastity and virginity. Do not let the smallest shadow of an overly causal relationship with boys or men come into your life, also not in the way you dress or the way you walk. Please take this advice as from someone who loves you.

Dear brother, you say you have not resisted evil, especially in the area of sex. It is of great importance that you take a stand for Jesus’ sake. I know it is often hard to do, especially at college. But as the times become more and more corrupt, it will be necessary to have a strong character and say “No” to things which the general public approves of. I wish you the courage to do this.

You must seek a pure heart. Then you will stop sinning when impure images or your imagination or anything else tempts you. You recognize that you must break away from these things, but you also acknowledge that you were playing around with them. That is sinful. Apathy and indifference will only weaken your stand against temptation. In the end it boils down to whether or not your life is founded on Jesus. You will find a pure heart only in him.

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