Purity slips

I spent last weekend with friends up north on a gorgeous lake.  We had some great weather and it was totally relaxing just to be away and with friends.  I woke up Sunday morning and after my devotional I decided to go for a swim.  The water on this lake is tropical in color and so clear you can see the bottom in the deep places of even 20 feet.  I was using the snorkel gear and collecting small shells for a project I'm going to be working on soon.  I noticed from about 5 feet in front of me a shining under the water.  I reached down to get it and could tell that it was a shell.  But this shell was beautiful in color, so beautiful that when the sun hit it people could see it from afar.  When I picked it up I realized this "shell" was actually paper thin.  It was a small sliver of beauty but I decided to keep it.  As I reached down to get it the force of the water movement made it slide across the bottom of the lake.  I finally grasped it and was bringing it above water when once again the force of moving water made it leave my hand and float to the bottom of the lake.  I reached out for it again but this time I understood it was delicate and that I needed to pay close attention to the resistance of the water when reaching for it.  I firmly grasped it and then shut my hand tightly to hold onto it as I stood up and took it to my bag of shells.  As I went on searching, I realized that sliver of beauty that took so much time to capture is much like purity.

The site of purity is so beautiful.  God has given us something so rare and priceless.  He trusts us with something that no one can give us.  We can't buy purity.  We can't find it for ourselves if we searched 1,000 years.  We are born pure and from then on we have this gift God has given us.  Yet purity these days is hard to hold onto.  We have it, but with pushing from the world and peer pressure for us to give this gift up, it is hard to hold onto.  We don't hold tightly to it and then before we know it, it is floating away out of our hands.  Hold tightly to the purity you have!  God has given you a beautiful gift that shimmers to the Heavens!  I know it's difficult at times and you might want to give in, but if we hold onto it God will bless you abundantly.  He has chosen you to be different than the world and wait for God's leading through marriage.  THAT is when this gift of beauty really shines.  When you attach yourself to the person God would have you be with, the two of you becoming one creates something far more beautiful than you could ever imagine.  

And if for some reason you have let go of that gift of purity already, know that God still loves you.  Go to Him and ask Him to cleanse you He will lead you to righteousness and bless you.  He will make you like new and give you a heart that will shine with His face.  I too have been in this place of coming to God and asking for forgiveness for impurities in my life.  He spared me and although He didn't give me the answers to my prayers, He gave me something better.  Trust in Him for He is Faithful and He loves you.  

Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us.