Meditations toward Purity

Helping you meditate on Scriptures as you pursue purity

1 Peter 2:11 – Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Passions of the flesh

What is the focal point of this verse?  The passions of the flesh (fleshly lusts, NASB).  These are desires, strong desires that originate from my body and call me to pursue eagerly the satisfaction of my desire, often paying scant attention to what boundaries I may be crossing and whose property I may be trespassing on as I run like a baying hound chasing a coon.  What comes to mind most readily is sexual desire, though Peter undoubtedly has other desires in mind as well.

Let’s go into a little more detail about these passions of the flesh.  They are:

• Rooted in the body

They are called passions of the flesh, for bodily needs and wants are at the root of these desires. The presence and pull of these desires are inescapable, for as long as I am in my body, I will have these desires. They spring from what I am as human, and they are inextricably linked with my existence in my body.  Simply put, I cannot eliminate all desire by training myself to think differently.

• Internally sourced, not originating externally

My desires may burst into flame in response to an external stimulus, but my desires were alight, smoldering away within me all along.  My desire does not originate in the tempting person, image or object that I encounter.  My desires are my desires, proceeding from deep within me.  Consider James 4:1, “your passions…at war within you”, or Matthew 15:19, “out of the heart come evil thoughts…” My desires leap into action when I encounter what I have been wanting, but the desire comes from within me.

• Opposed to the Spirit

“For the desires of the flesh are against the desires of the Spirit…”  Galatians 5:17 These passions sourced in the flesh are by nature in conflict with, in opposition to, the Spirit and the desires He engenders in us.  A cessation of these hostilities between flesh and Spirit is not possible because flesh and Spirit are intrinsically opposed to each other.  A Christian feels acutely this internal conflict.

• Dominant in unbelievers

Paul speaks of “the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind…” (Ephesians 2:3)  Unbelievers routinely follow or indulge their fleshly passions.  And these desires do not magically disappear when a sinner is converted. The transformed believer still faces old habits and a lifestyle that used to dominate his life; change is not a piece of cake.

Abstain

Now that he has identified this enemy which wages war against the soul, Peter urges his beloved brothers and sisters to take the appropriate action against this enemy, to abstain from the passions of the flesh.  To abstain means to refrain from, to keep away, or to avoid contact with or the use of something.

There is another option, of course. Peter speaks in 2 Peter 2:10 of those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion.   I face a choice. The passions are real, strong, magnetically attractive, with the pull constantly, undeniably, sometimes overwhelmingly being exerted on me.  How do I respond?  Do I keep away or give in?  Do I say “no” decisively or do I let myself be swept away?  Do I abstain or indulge?

Peter urges us to abstain, not just from fulfilling the desire (doing it) but also from indulging or giving in to experiencing the desire (delighting in it) even when we may not give in and actually commit what we want to do.  We may refuse to do what we are being tempted to do, yet we can get a certain high or pleasure just from entertaining the attraction instead of immediately turning away or shutting it down.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you  abstain from sexual immorality.  Fundamental to God’s will for His people on an individual scale is holiness, and if ever there was an area that calls for holiness, it is sexual immorality.

Which wage war against your soul

What is the big deal?  Why all the urgency and uproar over lust, something that everyone in the world just accepts as pretty normal?

Many reasons, but one is highlighted here. The passions of the flesh wage war against my soul.  In other words, my lusts actively clash with and attack my true self, my fundamental identity, the part of me that will one day give account to God and that will live forever. Why?  How?

War against my soul, because the rush of my passions dulls my desire for God, for purity, and for the unseen reality of heaven.  The taste and zing and quick high of cotton candy makes steamed broccoli seem a bit drab.

War against my soul, because the guilty after taste from my lust indulged contaminates my conscience, making me instinctively run from God rather than to God. I become reluctant to draw near to God. This is not in the best interest of my soul.

War against my soul, because my passion indulged floods my heart with shame, turning me away from God’s people instead of engaging with and rejoicing in them.

War against my soul, because in the aftermath of my lust I can’t pray, yearn for holiness or a clean heart, find delight in the Word of God, or love others with humility and purity.  I find my heart distracted, debased and derailed from faith in God.

War against my soul, because the passions of the flesh are against whatever is good for my soul.

As sojourners and exiles

My home is in heaven, where God dwells in light, perfection and purity.  I belong there.  As I travel there through this present world, I can never feel at home here.  Here the surrounding culture exalts and idealizes giving in to fleshly passions; to restrain yourself is to miss out foolishly on the fun. I am not part of this society; its customs and morals are foreign to me.  I must remember my alien status and not let myself get assimilated into the surrounding culture. Visiting foreigners are careful to retain their identity;  they do not regard themselves as a part of the host society.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Lord, I feel keenly the tug of my fleshly passions.  Help me to abstain, not to indulge or give in.  I know that as pleasurable as these desires are, they are the deadly enemy of my soul. May your Spirit work in me to choose and to do your good pleasure.

Job 31:1 – I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

In Job 31, Job is defending his integrity against the accusations of his friends in the nitty gritty of specific areas of moral weakness that commonly plague all us humans:  sexual sin (31:1, 9-12), integrity in business (31:5-8), fairness toward his slaves (31;13-15), compassion towards the poor (31:13-23), and so on.

The Eyes

Job begins with what is perhaps the most widespread sin that takes men down, sexual sin, and he starts with the launching pad for this sin, our eyes.  What our eyes see fuels our thoughts, and what we think upon fuels our desires. As Job says in verse 7, “if…my heart has gone after my eyes.”  The heart, like a dog chasing a rabbit, tends to follow where the eyes lead the way.

The truth Job knows, that what he sees may instantly have an effect upon his heart, is not confined to this Scripture text.

• Sin’s first entrance into God’s perfect creation was through the eyes of Eve.  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, …she took of its fruit and ate…” Genesis 3:6
• David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba began with what he looked at.  “…he saw a woman…and he lay with her”  2 Samuel 11:2, 4
• Jesus emphasized that the see-desire-heart sin continuum was a matter of instant eye-to-heart transmission, and guilt was incurred as if the deed was already done.  “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Matthew 5:28

So Job is acutely conscious that what he allows himself to see is not a matter of indifference, an event that has no effect beyond the moment. The risk of igniting his passions is so great that he decisively makes a solemn commitment not to gaze upon a virgin, a young woman.

The Gaze

Not all seeing is the same. There is a difference between a glance and a gaze.  A glance is brief; a gaze is prolonged. In a glance, my eyes (and therefore, my mind) are fleetingly exposed to the young woman.  In a gaze, my eyes (and again, my mind) drink in every detail of what I am staring at.   A glance may be an accidental event; a gaze most certainly is not, for even if it begins with the eye accidentally falling upon a beautiful woman, I may then choose to redirect my eyes.  A glance may appreciate the beauty of a woman; a gaze risks inciting my unlawful desires and imaginations.

This use of “gaze” in the Hebrew means “to consider diligently” or “to look at closely.” Note Isaiah 14:16 (“stare”), Psalm 37:10 (“look carefully”), and 1 Kings 3:21 (“look closely”). Job is not saying he will not see a woman or glance at a woman, but that he will not gaze upon a woman. Back to the contingency of verse 7, “if…my heart has gone after my eyes;” you may see and not have your heart run towards what you saw.

Job, now old enough to have 10 children, at least some of whom were adults (Job 1:2,4), well understands the risks inherent in the prolonged gaze at a young, beautiful woman.  Because Job is committed to purity, he has made a personal commitment, a solemn covenant with his eyes, not to let them gaze upon beautiful young women.  He is not here preaching his personal practices to others, but he has drawn his own personal line in the sand at precisely this point – no prolonged gazes.

Now, some may (truly) assert that a young woman as an object of beauty is one of God’s good gifts.  Appreciating her beauty is tantamount to admiring God’s creativity and goodness.  Job is not concerning himself with these issues; his concern is for the risk that a prolonged gaze may present to his own soul.  Job places greater value on his quest for purity than upon liberties and pleasures that may even be legitimate.

The Covenant

Job does not just say it, he swears it. Job knows his vulnerability; words alone are pitifully weak. So he makes a solemn and binding commitment. Does Job think an oath in itself will keep him from lust?  I don’t think so, but Job will do what he can, everything he can, to keep himself pure (Matthew 5:29-30).

This is a voluntary oath; no one is forcing it upon him.  But Job wants to be pure in his heart, pure before God, so he chooses to do what he can to take steps towards the goal of purity. Harnessing his desires is very tough, so he chooses to control what he best can, his eyes, which feed directly into his thoughts and desires.  The fire will not rage so fiercely if it has less fuel to burn.

The Reason

Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?  (Job 31:4) What I do with my eyes is neither a purely personal nor private matter.  God cares intensely about the activities of my eyes and heart, and Job well knows it (v. 2-4).  God intervenes in human history and punishes sin (v. 2-3). God sees what I see (v. 4), and He takes careful note of what I do in life. Remembering that God sees is a major motivation to fight against sexual temptation (Proverbs 5:21).

My struggle to control my eyes in the battle for sexual purity is nothing new to the 21^st  century (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Before our culture of undress, influenced by the ubiquitous media and obsessed with sensuality, Job had well defined the issues and staked out his position.

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Oh God Who Sees Me!  How often I have sinned with my eyes against You.  How often my heart has followed my eyes. But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. Help me to define the issues like Job did.  Help me to commit to keep my eyes like Job did.  May your Spirit help me. For the glory of Jesus, Amen.

Friend, do you feel defeated in your battle for purity?  Covenants and commitments alone do not deliver us, but Christ can and does give true deliverance.  God’s word and promises remain absolutely true.  We’d be happy to talk further; just email or call us.

26) Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
27) For a harlot is a deep pit
And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
28) Surely she lurks as a robber,
And increases the faithless among men.

The focus of the battle is the heart

Solomon says, “Give me your heart.” He knows, and he longs for his son to know, that the fight for sexual purity will be won or lost on the battleground of the heart. (Proverbs 6:25; 7:25) It will not do merely not to sin outwardly, with the body and in the flesh. We can be, to all outward appearances, clean and circumspect, but still be overrun by sin in the heart. We may refrain from outward acts of sin, but in our hearts be eagerly desiring to sin such that we are consumed by our wants. Solomon knows the battle is for the heart, so he focuses his son’s attention on the real issue and priority in life.

My focus on my heart must be voluntary

Solomon begs his son to give his heart. This yielding of the heart (to God) must be entirely voluntary; it cannot be out of compulsion or external constraint. Rather, because I know what God requires and what is good for me, both in this life and in eternity, I choose to give my heart to God. I am not simply trying to be respectable or good to please other people or even to comply with some laws or expectations forced on me. I desire inward purity because I know God gazes deep into my heart, and because I want to protect my conscience from defilement, from screaming pain, and from draining regret. I make a free choice to take my heart and to point its desires, not at pleasing myself or in drenching myself in the readily available showers of illicit sexual pleasure, but to keep my heart dry and to give myself to God.

My eyes are the gateway to my heart

The point is not what the eyes see, but what the eyes delight in – what they settle upon, feast on, and drink in. Solomon calls for his son to choose (“let your eyes delight in”) to let his eyes find their delight in the ways of God, the ways of holiness, the ways of purity and not the ways of the world or the ways of his sinful flesh. This is not to deprecate delighting in legitimate sexual pleasure (Prov. 5:15-19) for these pleasures are not excluded from “my ways,” the ways of holiness.

There is a close connection between the eyes and the heart. Job makes a covenant with his eyes not to gaze upon a virgin (Job 31:1) knowing full well that the danger is that his heart will follow his eyes (Job 31:7) and the result may be that his heart will be enticed by a woman (Job 31:9). Sexual temptation begins with the eyes, but the pipe from the eyes to the heart is very short, and the heart quickly is touched by what the eyes are drinking in and delighting in.

God calls me to delight as well as denial

Solomon does not call on his son to retreat into asceticism and the denial of all pleasures, but rather he beckons him to find positive delight, with all his heart, in the ways of God and of righteousness. God created all the trees of the garden and directed Adam to eat freely of any of them. Except one. So God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11).
Three solid reasons for purity of heart

The “For” at the beginning of verse 27 points us to three very good reasons why Solomon is urging his son to exercise control over the cravings of his heart.

The first reason is that the loose woman, a “deep pit” and a “narrow well,” represents a fall and a trap for the eager participant in her amorous adventures.
A deep pit and a narrow well. Both figures convey a drop into an abyss, a sharp decline down a precipice where descent is easy but the return trip is far more challenging. The descent into fornication is easy, effortless, pleasurable and rapid. But once you have plunged into the deep pit, returning to level ground is not so easy.
Many are hurt by the fall. And all will find it very difficult to climb out again.
A sexual fall is enslaving. He that commits sin is the slave of sin. (Jn. 8:34) Once you have acquired a taste for those delicious, forbidden pleasures, you will not find it so easy to go without.
A sexual fall opens the eyes. Like the serpent promised Eve, “in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened…, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5) Your eyes will see evil and temptation where before you were innocent and oblivious.

The second reason is that “she lurks as a robber.” This is shocking, isn’t it? You thought she would give pleasure, not take something! You are the fool. You had it all wrong all along. She is a robber. She will rob you of innocence, of a good conscience, of the ability to enjoy legitimate sexual pleasure, and of the freedom to delight in God and good without defilement and regret.

And the third reason is that she “increases the faithless among men.” Every man who engages in illicit sexual liaison breaks trust with someone. Always with God, who designed us for purity and holiness. Perhaps with your wife, who is one flesh with you and who trusts you to remain wholly committed to her. Perhaps with your children, who look up to you and who expect you to show them how to live. Perhaps with other Christians, who count on you to be an example to their children and to uphold the spotless name of Christ that we bear. Perhaps with some unbelievers who look to you to back up your words with actions and to demonstrate to them that Christ really does change lives.
Adulterers and fornicators are always faithless, trust breakers, men you cannot count on.
Solomon gives us these three critical reasons why we should be pure in our hearts and with our eyes.

O Lord, I would give you my heart. I want to hold nothing back. You know how readily I look and how quickly I want and how vulnerable I am to fall. Keep me by your grace and your Spirit, for only by your Spirit can I give you my heart.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Paul urges us to cleanse ourselves. The matter of growing in holiness, of cleansing the dirtiness and defilement in our conduct and in our hearts, of moving closer to purity, is not something we can just pray about and leave to God. There is a work to be done here that only we can do. God expects and requires us to take the initiative. Many a battle for purity has been lost because I failed to act decisively, waiting for Someone else to do something. If I fail to cleanse myself, no one else will step in to do it for me.

Paul names the scope of my concern as all personal defilement. I am not just targeting the big and obvious reprehensible sins, the ones that other people might gasp at if they knew. But I am aiming at every kind of sin and behavior that will defile my purity, even the little, hidden ones about which some may ask, “Why are you worried about that little thing?” The battle is not done if one guerilla fighter is still on the loose. The shirt is not clean if one small black spot remains. All defilement.

Paul focuses on defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. It’s not just about what you do, but it’s about what you think and what you want. God cares about what is hidden and invisible in my heart, not just what I do with my body. Jesus makes it clear that, contrary to our common conclusions, the source of our defilement is what comes out in our lives from our desires and thoughts. Keeping myself from engaging in visible and obvious sins does not make me a good boy; purity is far more than that.

All our obedience is built on faith in God’s promises. Therefore, having these promises… God has taken the initiative. Seeing our weakness and helplessness, God moves near and commits Himself to us and commits to help us. God does not give us commands to obey without offering to us power to obey and incentives to obey Him. With God’s promises in hand, believing obedience to God becomes an entirely different thing.

Not just any promises, but these promises. Here Paul refers to some very specific promises of God, quoted from the Old Testament in 2 Cor. 6:16-18. Promises of what God will be – their God and a Father to them (relationship, not alienation or isolation). Promises of what God will do – He will dwell in them and walk among them (God is near, not far away). Promises of what God will do for us, if we will only separate ourselves from sin – He will welcome us, be a Father to us, make us His sons and daughters (identity, security, significance and purpose). God promises I am not alone and I am not on my own. Though the fight against impurity is harder than anyone will ever know, I have these promises from God. Based on these very promises, I tackle the challenge of purity.

Father, thank you that You have not left me on my own. My sin is blacker and more deeply rooted than I once imagined. And though You do not lower Your expectations for my purity, You promise Yourself to me, as my God and my Father. Lord, you are enough for me. Help me to believe these promises in the moment of temptation.