Mountain stream, pure bottled water is the advertisement. What are the benefits? In areas where the water supply has been contaminated, bottled water can certainly be a life source. And for emergency preparedness, a supply of bottled water serves a very practical purpose. But the day to day consumption of bottled water has almost become an obsession for pure water. The idea of drinking water out of a faucet, or heaven forbid out of a water hose, is not acceptable for many.
This obsession with purity does not extend to various media flowing into the home. The cable companies and internet service providers keep the spigots wide open allowing pornography to flow into homes via television, computer screens and cell phones. Parents in tune with technology struggle to initiate controls that will hold up with technically savvy kids. Those not up to date technologically are caught unaware of the exposure kids have daily to the “new drug”. I encourage you to check out three websites: Stoptheporn.org – this is a call for internet providers to have robust filtering that defaults to ON to protect users. Customers have the option to turn off the filtering but the idea is to initiate filtering before it gets to the home; Fightthenewdrug.org – the focus is on increasing the awareness to the addictive nature of porn and similarities to other drugs; and, Sexualintegrityinitiative.com – provides tremendous resources that raise the bar for understanding and addressing assaults on sexual integrity.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. – Matthew 5:8, NIV. The charge is to be pure at the heart level. “God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view.”- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. – Ephesians 5:3. The challenge is to recognize temptation for what it is and choose to turn from it. Establish battle buddies that will hold you accountable to a closer walk with Christ.
Tips to Be Pure:
- Review temptations you face or have succumbed to and turn to Jesus the Christ;
- Utilize Covenant Eyes with a brother or a teenage son for accountability;
- Initiate candid dialogue around challenges social media has introduced to your home with your family, with your church and others in your circles of influence;
- Pray through the verses above, listen for His voice and obey;
- Reject passivity on this battlefront for healthy relationships.
Prayer guide: Lord, I confess choices I have made that allowed temptation to manifest into sin in my life. Forgive me. I praise You and thank You for the consequences of those choices, the valleys You have taken me through. You opened my heart and made me pure by Your sovereign grace. Grant me strength to stand firm against sexual immorality and any kind of impurity. Equip me as a worthy representative where You have me in the home, at work, in church and other circles of influence. Amen.
A faithful father embraces purity in Christ and reflects Him from the inside out.
