The Meaning of Purity

Recently my hubby read an article to me off the Internet about a Victoria Secret model who is proudly and vocally a virgin and plans to remain so until marriage.

For the sake of this blog, I didn't look up her name or any more details because my goal is not to impugn her, but take this concept of virginity and purity deeper.

One the one hand, I commend this model for her boldness and desire to live purely. On the other hand, the irony is a blaring neon sign. Contradiction!

While she promises no man will touch her goods until she's married, she parades around half naked before millions of men.

Men are visual. Men struggle with lust. And while this Vic Secret model has refrained from physical sex, she's mostly likely stirred mental sex with millions of men.

Jesus said if a man looks lustfully on a woman, he's committed adultery.

Just because we don't do the deed doesn't mean we are pure. I always had a beef with the wording of the True Love Waits pledge: "I'll remain pure until marriage."

Like after marriage you can be impure? Purity is a life long virtue. One that has to be maintained with vigilance - before and after marriage.

To this fancy underwear model, I'd ask, "So, it's okay to cause the husbands, fathers, brothers, boyfriends, cousins, uncles, and friends of the world's women to lust in their hearts, even for a second, because of the way you display yourself?"

No, it's not. Raise the bar, ladies. This model might feel protected and untouchable at her high level, unaware of what actions she causes. It's the chain reaction, the trickle down lust effect.

She feels safe and secure in her purity stand, but down at the common every day level, some man in a bathroom with his wife's/mother's/sister's Vic Secret catalog is... well... not keeping it so pure. (Catalog sales were 400 million at one time.)

Men I know desiring to walk in purity refuse to have a Vic Secret catalog in their homes.

It's not one or the other, ladies. How we behave, dress, flirt is also part of purity. Not just keeping a man out of our drawers. Men, how you act and behave impacts your purity.

If Jesus words are true, and they always are, millions of men have committed adultery with Vic Secret models.

If this one really wants to be an example for young women, she might consider not walking around in her underwear. The other trickle-down effect is millions of young women wanting to be like Vic Secret models and buy these soft, sexy underthings for showing off to... um... who? Boyfriends?

Let's be honest, we live in a world where a school board voted in birth control for 11 and 12 year old girls. The fight against purity and virginity is raging. It can't be maintained without constant vigilance.

You can't walk around showing the goods and expect young women to be pure. Shopping for sexy underwear only makes a woman want to show them off. Sooner or later, some dude's going to see them, sooner or later, he'll coax them off.

The title of the blog is to get us thinking. Jesus said if our eyes causes us to stumble, take it out. If we steal, cut off our hand. If we hate, we've murdered. His point?

We're all guilty! We've all fallen short of God's glory. Sin is serious business. I've got to up my level of holiness! How about you?

After all, we are His favorite ones. I want to love Him like I am favored.