Example In Purity:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus never sinned. This is great news for us, because we need a perfect, unblemished sacrifice that is acceptable in God’s sight. If Jesus were corrupted by one little sin, His sacrifice would be unacceptable. His righteousness is given to us, and if His righteousness were at all un-righteous, so would ours, in God’s sight, because He sees Jesus' righteousness instead of ours. But praise the Lord, Jesus was and is perfect. Being God, He was and is holy - uncompromisingly, unchangingly holy. This is probably the best news in the world.
But it is also a challenge for us, because Jesus is set forth as our example. 1 Peter 1:14-16 says,
“As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” ~ 1 Peter 1:14-16
God desires holiness in us, because He is holy. The most beautiful thing to Himself is His holy self, and the most beautiful thing He can see in us is a reflection of Himself… holiness.
Do you desire to worship God in holiness? It will only happen if we have a single desire for that. Wanting to be holy and being unthankful, or wanting to be holy and twisting the truth, or to be holy and serving our desires over doing His will doesn't conform.
While we can’t be perfectly holy on earth, those whom He has redeemed will one day be holy in heaven. The best we can do now is to completely cast ourselves on the strength of Jesus, asking Him to take over and work His righteousness in our lives. When one repents of their sin and believes on God for salvation through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, this happens - God changes their will and gives them the strength to act according to that (Philippians 2:13.) With the Holy Spirit and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, we have everything we need to wrestle with sin and win. However, the reason we lose so often is because we love the sin and would rather not wrestle with it.
It’s important to note that holiness is impossible without redemption.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ~ Hebrews 11:6
Are you saved? Have you submitted completely to God by acknowledging His Lordship and His mercy by sending His Son to die and defeating death? Is Jesus your only hope of salvation? Or are you trusting in your own works? This is the foundation from which everything else builds. Jesus’ righteousness is the root that grows and produces fruit in our lives - fruit that glorifies Him.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ~ John 15:5.
{I am writing this part after having written everything else, so it doesn't really 'fit' in any other part cohesively, but I just *had* to share this with you. Recently I was meditating on Psalm 19, and was hitting myself over why I didn't include this part of the Psalm (especially the first section) in this series already. I was thankful it fits in this weeks' theme of purity so I could squeeze it in!
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward.
~ Psalm 19:7-11
Radiant youths are converted, wise, joyful, and radiant people, transformed by the Word of God.}
Practical Application: As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue… ~ 2 Peter 1:2.
God has equipped us with all the tools we need to fight our battles against sin. His grace IS sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:9.) His Word IS living and active. (Hebrews 4:12.) The Holy Spirit IS a Helper, who brings to remembrance the things that He taught us. (John 14:26.)
How can I emphasize enough the importance of memorizing God’s Word? I don't think I can! I think it is so much more difficult to resist temptation when you don’t have much Scripture memorized. It’s great to have a Bible on the shelf or on our phone, but it doesn’t do any good if it stays there. It needs to be in our hearts, sharp and ready for battle-use. I’ll just give an example of one struggle I had and how the Sword came to help me:
Blueberries are my favorite fruit, and I've been known to eat whole cartons of them as soon as my mother brings them home from the grocery store. My excuse was that I simply couldn't stop, they were delectable. I’d *never* controlled myself when it came to blueberries. I’ve ALWAYS eaten as much as I wanted, gobbling handfuls at a time because they are just so good!! Well, my mother had just said the night before, “Please don’t eat the blueberries in the fridge, Katarina. I'd like to save them for breakfast some morning.”
I wanted to have a snack, so I looked in the fridge and immediately saw the blueberries. With glee, I started to open it and dug my hand into the carton when I suddenly remembered what she had said. I looked at the blueberries, the round, juicy, bluuuuuuuue blueberries, and my hand half-visible in that luscious pile of ambrosia. I was about to tell myself, “but you just simply CAN’T control yourself. This is one area where you ALWAYS give in, because blueberries just have control over you,” when this verse crossed my mind: “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12) And what is the commandment of His lips and the Words of His mouth that I am to treasure more than my necessary food? I asked. "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." (Colossians 3:20.) "You shall not steal." (Exodus 20:15.) Immediately, I closed the lid, put the blueberries back in the drawer, and walked away.
What a simple little act that was. It wasn’t like I was about to rob a bank or kill someone. It was just that I was going to take some blueberries. But that is no less a sin than robbing a bank or killing someone is. It’s important to ask God for eagle-eyes to see little compromises that we’re making daily in our lives.
If there is a compromised area of your life where you’re not living in total subjection and obedience to God, I encourage you to find a verse that deals directly with that issue, and memorize it. Then, every time you’re tempted in that area, quote it to yourself.
This year I realized that I did not love instruction. When my parents corrected me on something, I would squirm inside and would be just waiting for them to be done so I could justify myself or bury myself in something I loved doing so I could forget about it. God convicted me so strongly on this. So I memorized this short little verse:
Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not disdain it. ~ Proverbs 8:33.
Now, whenever my parents start correcting me on something, I quote that short little verse to myself and it’s amazing what it does. It's like my entire will is changed. I've actually been able to smile while receiving instruction, listen with attention the entire time, and learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes that they’re correcting me on since implementing this in this area of my life.
For example, one of my chores is to clean the stove. For months I was cleaning it with a certain rag. I suppose I get lost in thought and up-in-the-clouds sometimes and tend to not think clearly and do things out of habit often, so I always grabbed that rag, even though my mother told me to please not use that certain one, since it's one of the best ones we have, every time I cleaned the stove.
Was this a matter of my forgetting? Yes. But the forgetting is not an excuse, because I should not forget.
One morning, lost in a deep thought, I grabbed the rag and started to clean the stove.
“Oh, please don’t use that one, remember?” my mom told me, gently.
“Oh, but I always use this one!” I answered. It wasn't a rude tone of voice at all, but the words coming out of my mouth should not been of rejection, but submission.
“Yes, but I want you to use this,” my mom replied, holding up a special scrubby thing.
“Oh, but I like to feel the stove through this rag with my fingers!”
My mom slugged her shoulders and headed off to do her work. As I continued to clean the stove, God convicted me that I had just rejected instruction. (Proverbs 8:33.) So later, I came to my mom and said, “I'm sorry for using the rag you didn’t want me to use, mama, and not listening to you earlier. I’ll start cleaning the stove with that scrubby thing from now on.” Mama was happy about that. :D It was a good lesson to learn.
The next time I went to clean the stove, I started to grab the rag, but then it was like my foggy head disappeared and all of a sudden I remembered the scrubby thing. I grabbed it and used it, and you know what? It worked much better than the rag did. Lol. And now, I always use it. (Not because it works better, but because my will was changed and I want to obey her in this now.) I’ve found that every time my parents have been right. Every time. Not once have I ever been more right than they have been.
There have also been times and I know there will be times when it’s not a one-time fix. I remember one of the early months this year, I was struggling with this same issue - listening to instruction. After being broken over how rebellious and proud my heart was, I asked God to please, please help me. He gave me the verse “He must increase but I must decrease” (John 3:30) and I quoted it to myself whenever I started to feel restless and upset as my parents were correcting me about something to remind myself to be humble and listen to what they had to say. I had to do this multiple, multiple times, because the temptation was a common one… it came up often. XD But God’s Word is always faithful and sufficient. It ca help us escape from temptation not just once, not even just twice, but thrice, even sess and sepce times! (I looked that up. It means 6 & 7. That was as high as I could find. :D)
Sometimes we have to endure temptation. Sometimes it goes away and then jumps out at us from behind when we’re not expecting us. Sometimes it pins us to the ground and beats and beats and beats us. Sometimes we drive it away by His help and it never comes back. But regardless of how many times we have to resist it, His grace is *always* sufficient to send it flying away every time.
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
~ James 1:12
Strive after purity in His strength. Seek to know what it looks like by beholding His life in the pages of Scripture (and, by the way, the entire Bible, OT & NT talks about His life and His character. GOD is the subject of the Bible.) First submit to His will for your life, salvation, and then submitting in the everyday things will be easier, because He will change your will and give you help through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's powerful sword, the Word of God.
Also, limiting our temptations as much as possible is important and helpful too. It’s not wise in the least to keep books, magazines, video games, websites, music, toys, food, phone, letters, clothes, or anything around that is making us stumble. Perhaps mark a day on your calendar as soon as possible when you will go on a search for things you need to throw away or fast from. Also, I'll only say this once, so listen up: A strong, open, healthy, and thriving relationship with our parents will save anyone much heartache and pain and be one of the - seriously - biggest blessings in their lives.
Most importantly, however, memorize Scripture… lots of Scripture.
If you memorize an average of 1 Psalm a week, you can have the book of Psalms memorized in 5 years. If you memorize 4 to 6 verses a day, you can memorize the New Testament in 5 years. This website is really inspirational, by the way!
I think that it is very do-able to memorize an epistle and 26 Psalms a year. Also, by just memorizing one verse of Proverbs a day, my family has memorized 28 chapters so far. We’ve only been doing it for a couple of years. Take this as an inspiration to set your sights high. The more that you memorize, the easier it becomes to memorize, and the more you will want to memorize. If you need some motivation, I suggest reading Psalm 119. God’s Word is more precious, useful, valuable, and powerful than we give it credit for.
Note: Most people will think this is impossible. It depends on your priorities. A friend recently told me that she ran a 5K almost every day during the summer, but had thought that was impossible in the spring. As soon as she said '5K almost every day,' I gasped. But when she said she'd thought it was impossible in the spring, I remembered how I had thought it was absolutely impossible to qualify for the National Bible Bee, and memorize more than about, oh, maybe 50 verses a year. I'm sure it's possible for me to run a 5K every day, too. I don't think I'm going to (at least, not soon) because that's not a big priority for me. However, memorizing Scripture IS a big priority for me, so I push myself beyond what I would have ever imagined doing to memorize large portions of Scripture. And you can, too.
At first, memorizing 1 verse a week may very well be a challenge for you. But if you are faithful, and aren't satisfied with mediocre goals, I know that you will start to notice leaps and bounds in your ability to memorize quicker, more efficiently, and more in quantity.
Just a practical way I've noticed this happen in my own life. When I first started memorizing lots of Scripture, I would read a verse 10 times and then recite it 10 times to myself, then move on to the next verse. Sometimes that would be enough, and I could memorize it by just doing that, but sometimes I had to do it 20 or even 30 times. Now, I can read an average-sized verse two or three times, quote it to myself 3-5 times, and have it memorized.
When you know lots of Scripture, like I said earlier, it becomes part of who you are. It incorporates itself into your everyday thoughts and speech, and starts to direct your thoughts and actions.
CONCLUSION: Jesus was perfect in Word. Jesus was perfect in Conduct. He was perfect in love. He was perfect in spirit and faith and purity. If we want to be a good example in these and radiate His righteousness out to others in our youth, so that people will see and be astonished (they will, for youths like these are few and far between) and glorify our Father in Heaven, (Matthew 5:16) the key is to seek to know Jesus. It’s amazing that though He is holy God and dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16) and came and left the earth about 2,000 years ago, we can know Him closely, dearly as a Friend. The veil to the holy of holies tore in two when He died for our sins, symbolizing the access we can have with confidence through faith in Him. (Ephesians 3:12.)
This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Let us not waste it. When we draw near to Him, He promises to draw near to us, (James 4:8) and when He does, His righteousness will radiate out of us, pointing all to Christ and causing them to glorify God.
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~