When we hear about purity, or the ability to keep ourselves pure as believers, it is usually from the standpoint of don’t have sex before marriage! That’s it! We are often left to figure out how to get to the point of marriage without defiling ourselves; hence most of us fall short. God calls us to a life of purity as believers, not necessarily to make it to that finish line (marriage) undefiled, but for us to live out our God-given purpose without any hindrances.
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Lust or sexual impurity, usually hinders us from a full relationship with Christ, and can also determine how far we would go in fulfilling our purpose. I remember when I was still having sex (outside of marriage); I did not come into the fullness of my purpose. I had a relationship with God, I still had dreams, God still spoke to me, but I was not living out my purpose. It wasn’t until, something devastating happened to me, and I decided to let God in completely, that I began walking in my purpose.
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God took me through a period of refining, which lasted for a period of years, before I started doing what He called me to do, which was to share his wisdom, through writing. If I did not go through that process with God, and decided to live a pure life, I wouldn’t have any message to tell, or even have the platform that I have right now, where people can trust me, and share their most intimate problems with me.
It was good that I came to that realization before coming back to Nigeria, because I would have suffered in the hands of men, who were just looking for easy prey. Now I can say, no! You can’t sleep over, or I can’t spend the night at yours, even if I desire your company, because I know it wouldn’t be pleasing to God, and things might happen, which I would later regret. As a Christian, when you are living in purity, your message becomes clearer, because you are walking the walk.
Samson and Joseph were two characters in the bible; God had purposed to achieve greatness. What differentiates them, is that one was able to flee from youthful lusts (as Paul commanded Timothy) while the other gave into them. Samson usually did what he felt like doing, and that landed him in the hands of the enemy, and cut his destiny short. I am sure God had more things for him to accomplish, but he let his desires rule over him, instead of God.
Joseph on the other hand feared God, when he was presented with the opportunity to have sex with his master’s wife, he said to her—“look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept anything back from me, but you, because you are his wife, how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:8-9)
Joseph considered sex outside the covenant of marriage as a great wickedness; the bible says that there is no other sin that affects a man, than that of sexual immorality, because every other sin is committed outside of the body. That should show us how important, God takes our temples, he doesn’t want it defiled, and he does not want anything to hinder our relationship with him.
Joseph fled temptation, and became the second in command in all of Egypt; Samson indulged, and died before his time. Before you can truly come into the fullness God has prepared for you, you have to rid yourself of certain things, like the bible calls them; former lusts, things we used to indulge in before, that were displeasing to God.
“Until it was time for the Lord to fulfill his promises to Joseph, he tested his character.”—Psalm 105:19
God wants to know that he can trust you with true riches, which is your purpose. He wouldn’t take you to a place, where he knows you will destroy, or would destroy you. So, maybe you are not seeing certain things come to fruition in your lives, because you are still holding on to lust, let it go.
What is that thing you are still battling with? Give it over to God. We have to learn how to guard our hearts above all else; guard it from television shows or movies that promote sexual immorality, guard it from songs that are full of sexual promiscuity, guard it from conversations, which talk about sex in a way that is not edifying and bringing glory to Christ. We were created as sexual beings, and filling ourselves with such things might awaken desires within us that we did not even know existed.
As followers of Christ, we have to flee from lust so we can see God. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” —Matthew 5:8. What that passage of scripture means, is not that we will see him physically here on earth, but that we can see him act in our day-to day lives. Just as 2 chronicles 16:9 says, God is looking for those whose hearts are loyal to Him, so he can show himself strong on their behalf.
That was what he did for Joseph; because he knew he could trust Joseph, and that Joseph was loyal to him throughout those years, when it was time for him to meet the king, there was no going back to the prison. So is your heart as a Christian, loyal to God or to your lustful desires?
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About The Author: Evi Idoghor is a Christian, writer, and content creator on Letstalknationblog.com. She is a chemical engineering graduate from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Consumed by her love for writing and desire to effect change, she launched her online platform––Let’s Talk Nation––to tap into her creativity and start meaningful conversations that would make a difference around the world.
Most of her writing has been influenced by her time spent in America, where she lived for about 11 years. Also, she lived in Nigeria and South Korea and currently loves traveling the world while learning about other fascinating cultures. You can find her on all social media platforms with @eviidoghor.