The Virtue of Chastity - 04/25/2021
Greetings in His Most Holy Name,
We continue our series this week learning about virtues of faith that aid us on our path to spiritual maturity. This week we talk about the virtue of chastity. This virtue focuses on glorifying God through purity of the heart and the body.
Chastity is a virtue with a strong response to the sin of lust. Lust is a strong desire for sexual immorality or idolatrous worship. At no time in the bible is lust presented in a positive light. Unfortunately, the world we live in has sought to normalize lustful thinking. The world of entertainment and social media wants us to think that it is "normal" to lust after things. While our sinful nature makes us prone to lustful thinking, there is nothing "normal" about it. Lusting after something takes our focus away from the one thing we are to be focused on at all times, God, our creator.
Jesus says "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8)
God sees our hearts. He wants all of our heart. We are to flee from lust and turn to God. Repent from our sin and allow Him to create in us a clean heart. Do not pass go, do not collect $200...flee into the arms of Christ who loves us and, as we have received Him, promises never to leave or forsake us.
This message is a hard one for many. The world will tell us that chastity is "over-reacting", but scripture tells us otherwise. Jesus' words on this topic alone tell us of the seriousness of this sin. We may feel guilt and shame over lusts of our past but that is not Jesus' desire. Jesus desires for us to run into His embrace and receive His Grace and Mercy. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are children of God.
Grow in maturity this week by reflecting on the virtue of chastity. Remember the goal is to be perfected in Jesus as we grow toward spiritual maturity, we cannot do it alone. Seek Him.
Here is this week's message:
Be blessed,
Pastor Jeremy
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