God doesn’t make and give rules just to make and give rules! Some people don’t understand that, but God gives us directions for our lives because He dearly loves us and because He deeply wants the very best for us! Remember that as we look at some more things we need to know. I have something else that I hope you will truly consider, take to heart and keep with you for the rest of your life.
Tune your heart to this: Through your own deep and firm convictions in the Lord, keep yourself holy and pure! In the long run, no one keeps himself pure simply because his parents or anyone else want him to stay pure. The desires that others have for us sometimes are dismissed when facing a strong temptation. The only way to truly keep yourself holy and pure to the Lord is to increase your own faith and deepen your own convictions in the Lord! As a Christian adds, to their faith in God, a desire to do right and the knowledge of what is right, the resulting growth is greater self-control (read 2 Peter 1:5-6). Self-control is what we need to stay holy and pure!
Control what you think. That first starts by controlling “what goes in,” for whatever goes in is going to come out (Mark 7:18-23)! Our surrounding are not the only thing that influence our thoughts, for our own envy, jealousy, temper and passions are the driving force of how and what we think. Therefore, we must strive extra hard to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Control who you befriend. Close friends, not-so-close friends—they all have an influence on you in your behavior, your beliefs and your attitudes (1 Cor. 15:33). We need to think about Jesus being our friend (John 15:13-14) and hanging out with us during the day. What kinds of friends can help us (and not hinder us) to be better friends with Jesus?
Control where you look. The very first sin resulted “when the woman saw…” (Gen. 3:6). It was the eyes that led her astray. We need to control our eyes, for our minds will rarely think and our feet will rarely go where our eyes have not first been. Like Job, we need to make a covenant with our eyes and look only on things that are holy and pure (Job 31:1).
Control how you speak. The Bible describes the tongue as “a world of iniquity…an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (Jas. 3:6, 8). Alone, “no man can tame the tongue,” but “with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). God says that “he who restrains his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19), so we need to learn to be “slow to speak” (Jas. 1:19). Together, let’s pray, “God, please help me to be holy and pure in my speech.”
Being pure and being holy are both conditions necessary to “see God” (Matt. 5:8; Heb. 12:14). Let’s pursue them!