In this day and age, we live in a hypersexualized society. With toddlers completely decked out with a full face of makeup, a spray tan, and heels competing in pageants, to dolls marketed to preteen girls that feature sexualized clothing, to numerous music videos for pop music that feature older women dressed up as little girls, we can’t get away from this objectification of girls.
There is an obvious attack on the purity of our culture, especially in regards to the purity of girls.
While the attack on sexual purity is quite prominent and unmistakable, purity extends to purity in regards to our hearts, minds, and souls.
We don’t aim for purity in order to snobbily regard with disdain those who are less “pure”. Instead, we seek purity in all aspects of our lives because God is pure.
As it says in the Bible, “But as He who has called you is holy, so be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) This should be our only motivation for being and acting in a pure way.
However, there is a constant battle against the media that endlessly feeds us relentless vulgarity, normalizing the objectification of women and crude language to name a few.
These things are of the world and are not what God wants us to meditate on, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15-16)
Furthermore, purity also extends to other facets of our souls.
It applies to purity in regards to everything -- our hearts, thoughts, attitudes, and the way we speak: “But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:37), “Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse joking, which are not fitting. Instead, give thanks.” (Ephesians 5:5), and, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outbursts, and blasphemies, with all malice, be taken away from you. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4: 31-32) The Bible repeatedly emphasizes the importance of remaining pure.
In all of these aspects of our being, we must remember to focus on God, the perfect Creator of each and every one of us.
While all of us sin and will never attain absolute purity it should be a daily, conscious effort in order to further our relationship with God and lead a more Christ-like life because “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:37) Ultimately we strive for purity due to our reverence for God, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
