Stormproof Men IISample

Experiencing Purity 

• that respect me 

The fourth positive principle recognizes that our choices should respect us. This may sound weird and selfish, but it is not. Instead, it recognizes the biblical principle that all of me – including my physical body – belongs to God. This choice means I live as the person God designed me to be, the “real me” in Christ, not the person the world and my flesh want me to be. Paul adds that we are to abstain from sexual impurity and possess our own vessel honorably (probably best understood as our bodies). If we accept the testimony of Scripture, our entire body (including our sexual organs) has value and our sexual purity honors who we are as God created us.

• that honor others 

The fifth and final positive principle is making choices that honor others, and in particular that honor women. They are not sexual objects for our pleasure. God created women as equal image-bearers with men, spiritually equal to men. Wives are described as “co-heirs” with their husbands. God designed the first woman to be a "helper" (a positive term, by the way) as the one who “completes” the first man. Women are more valuable than being mere sexual objects for our pleasure. They are real people, with real lives and real feelings. Every woman is someone’s daughter and may be a sister, mother, or wife. These descriptions fit any and every woman, even those in the sex industry (such as pornography and prostitution). When I choose purity, I honor women as God created them. 

When we are sexually pure, we honor the institution of marriage and the married man honors his wife. Our purity recognizes that God designed the “one flesh” intimacy of marriage as the avenue for true sexual fulfillment. When our wives know we look for sexual satisfaction apart from them, they see it as a statement that they are sexually inadequate. Our sexual purity communicates the opposite to our wives. It communicates that we value them. It communicates to her that we believe she alone is our “one-flesh” partner. It communicates to unmarried women that we desire to protect their purity so that should they one day marry, they can enjoy the one-flesh relationship with their future mate. Our actions tell them how highly we value them as a gift from God and as a child of God.