{"id":12654,"date":"2014-04-01T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2c56b1c1-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2025-03-25T12:24:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:24:46","slug":"leading-a-lifestyle-of-purity","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/leading-a-lifestyle-of-purity\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading a Lifestyle of Purity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across this blog about purity<\/a>\u00a0not too long ago that immediately caught my interest. Its focus was on the difference between virginity and purity. Never before had I\u00a0pondered the difference. I always thought they were one and the same.<\/p>\n

As I approach the final two months before my wedding, maintaining purity is on my mind more now than ever before. But in reading this blog over several times, it occurred to me that purity is far more than abstinence. Purity, as it turns out, is much broader and more complex.<\/p>\n

“If purity was only based on sex, then after I got married I would no longer have to strive for a life of purity,” the author, Danielle Renfrow, wrote.<\/p>\n

This was such an eye-opening thought for me. Am I the only one who never made that distinction between the two? I never thought about it that way. We are called to be pure and holy because God is holy. It is our gift from God the Father through Jesus.<\/p>\n

“As obedient children,\u00a0do not be conformed to the passions\u00a0of your former ignorance,\u00a0but\u00a0as he who called you is holy, you also be holy\u00a0in all your conduct,\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’\u201d (1 Peter 1:14-16<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While abstinence before marriage is part of purity, it\u2019s not the whole picture. Like the Scripture above indicates, we are to be holy in all<\/i> our conduct. The blog\u2019s author points out that purity goes deeper than our actions to the heart of the matter \u2014 our desires. Are our desires pure?<\/p>\n

“Sexual abstinence is good, but your purity is NOT defined by your abstinence. It goes all the way back to the heart of the matter. Before you were kissing, before you were holding hands, before you were flirting \u2013 What were your intentions? What were you thinking about? What was your flesh saying? What were your desires?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Instead of being concerned about “How far is too far?<\/a>” we should be asking ourselves what our intentions are. It\u2019s not limited to saving sex for marriage. It goes way deeper into issues of the heart. The author chose to save her next kiss for her fianc\u00e9 rather than a boyfriend. My fianc\u00e9 and I recently took a different approach.<\/p>\n