"Blessed are the pure in heart"

I'm listening to a podcast from a CharlotteONE meeting I missed on virginity vs purity.

A couple who saved their virginity for marriage tell a story in a way i've never heard it. It's not condescending, not a lesson on "how far is too far", but a genuine heart-felt talk about what God intended for us when he created sex to be within a marriage.

First of all, I've learned recently that ALL guys want to have sex with you, whether the girl is attractive, or unattractive, they will still have that desire. My sis said "it is up to you to be the one to say no, and the ones that stick around after all the 'no's' will be the one worth keeping."

It's hard for me to hear other "Christians" talk about sex and relationships, because I've never had a godly relationship like that. I'm thinking, they have no idea what they're asking me to do! Or if it's that EASY for them than they must not even have desires. In my past, I programmed my mind to think like a guy... to separate the sexual side from the emotional side... so I thought. Since females, are programmed to have feelings and emotions, I guess I just suppressed the feelings for as long as I could. Now, I'm on a journey to give up past habits, my lustful desires, my temporary crushes, to find what God has for me- A pursuit of purity.

"God cares less about my virginity, than he does about my purity"

People see God as the God of "Don't have sex... that's the law." They see the line of the physical act of sex and are told not to cross it. Virginity is about avoiding Sex and Purity is about a pursuit; something that you are moving towards. Virginity ends at marriage. Virginity is about the physical ACT of sex. Purity is every ounce of you. At the end of the day virginity is about ME- me not having sex. Purity is about God. Virginity is a piece of purity. You can be a virgin and have an impure heart.

Purity is when you desire God more than the physical satisfaction.

In the Jarrett and Jeanne Stevens talk, SHE says, "That magnetic desire was red hot." You rarely hear about Christian WOMEN talking about struggling with desires, so for those of us that do, we feel wrong, alone, or that you're not supposed to have a desire like that in a godly relationship. But God knew there would be tension in the waiting. He wanted us to choose Him over our desires, not that we won't have them.

"our sexuality and our emotions were designed to be connected" You aren't supposed to put them in separate categories. Now I realize that those relationships break you because they were designed to go together within a marriage between a husband and a wife.

Matthew 5:8 says "Blessed are the PURE in heart for they will SEE GOD"
not "blessed are those who remain virgins."
"Blessed= Special= You are CALLED"

God wants you to see HIM in this struggle, in this pursuit. And in seeing Him, you will see temptation for what it is, see the empty promises, see God enough to love someone more than your own physical desires.

Jarrett gives this Analogy of Broken China Plates glued back together. Some of the shattered pieces were glued back together so well, that you couldn't even tell they had been broken. God wants us to hand over our pieces, whether chipped or completely shattered.

BROKENNESS:
things that we do shatter the image of purity, AND things that are done to us.
A quiet lie that edges in and fills your thought-life. It takes away from the beauty of sex. It has skewed your sexual image of yourself and of God. It breaks God's heart that someone else's sin would cause pain in your life.
Images, movies, etc are eroding your purity.

God is able to restore

Psalm 147:3- He Heals the Broken-Hearted

Love and sex are designed to be together within a marriage. Our desires are very strong and controlling. How great will it be when you find someone who LOVES you enough to suppress those desires only through their love for God.

"Sex is not supposed to be a selfish thing.
Love someone MORE than your own physical desires."

God longs to restore you, to heal you. He wants you to offer him your broken pieces and cracks, because he WILL restore you.
He brings life out of death and restoration out of brokenness. He is the Healer. He heals our fears, he heals the kinds of things that we don't want anyone to know about, he heals those secrets, he heals the lies, he heals the shame, he heals where we have even justified our actions. He heals those cracks. He puts those pieces back together through his love and grace. He is the God of freedom, redemption, wholeness, restoration, hope, peace, forgiveness. I want you to be pure so that you can SEE me and recognize me and that when I put back the pieces they reflect the image of God. It's more than holding on to your virginity, it's wanting to SEE GOD.

"See God in the struggle of remaining pure."