“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
When we talk about purity in the church, we frequently get very quickly on the topic of sex. I think that purity goes way, way deeper than that. Just keeping our bodies pure is one fraction of the whole of the topic of purity. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Keep your thoughts and actions pure from sexual perversion – that is honoring to God and a tremendous example to believers and the world alike.
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“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
Your faith can be a huge example to the people around you. In today’s culture, the Christian faith is regularly ridiculed and mocked by the media, but something that I’ve discovered is that a lot of people respect Christians. They might not agree with them, but they respect that they are entitled to their own opinions, same as them. The cool thing about this is that we then get an opportunity to be an example through our faith. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
Love is such a big topic, especially in a world that is consumed with the idea of love. The dating age keeps getting lower and lower, and the idea of falling in love is pushed on people of all ages. Romance films and books proliferate and are very big sellers (which only makes publishers want to produce more). For the sake of this post, let’s separate love and romance. For one thing, they’re two vastly different things and don’t even have to be related. Romance is more of a feeling, while love is more of a choice – a verb – a thing to be lived out rather than felt. I suspect that not making this distinction is the reason that so many marriages fail today. As soon as we stop ‘feeling’ it, we bail because we’re so addicted to our feelings. There is no better example to fellow Christians and to the world than to live out the life that God has called us to live.
If there is something that pretty much everyone on the planet hates, it’s others being hypocritical. In particular, the media ridicules anyone (especially Christians) who doesn’t practice what they preach. Any time a large-scale Christian minister messes up, it’s all over the news. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
When people start talking about our words, we usually hear nice arguments for why we shouldn’t use certain words or ‘take the Lord’s name in vain.’ Now, it is absolutely true that, as followers of Christ, we shouldn’t take the Lord’s name in vain (using His name to express surprise or disgust) or use coarse language. Paul says it like this in Ephesians 5:4: “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” However, I think it goes way deeper than avoiding the use of words that our society has deemed inappropriate. |
Sarah GraceHi! I'm Sarah Grace, and I'm so glad you stopped by the Wings of Heaven blog! You can find short posts for easy reading or longer, more in-depth musings! I hope you're blessed! Archives
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