What are we doing?

As I prepare to speak to young girls today, I grabbed a few of my books and my notes from previous talks. I read over the pages and found that I am still so amazed and comforted by the message of purity and modesty. In my amazement, I suddenly felt alone. Not that I don't have pure or modest friends, most of mine are. But who is talking about it? What are we doing? We, as "older women" (Titus 2), have this awesome gift of knowing the importance of purity and modesty and we wear it so well! But how many of our peers know about this awesome thing we posses?

So I ask this question of my friends and other women of purity and modesty: What are we doing?

I am not saying that we all have to be speakers. But, we all have a voice in some way. Do our friends know why we dress the way we do? Have we shared the beautiful purpose of sex with those close to us? If this message is so amazing and it obvious impacts us enough to take it on, isn't it amazing enough to share?

I believe Purity and Modesty go hand in hand with Salvation. That's what I'll be focusing on today with the girls. As I have shared in previous posts, purity goes with salvation. It's accessible to everyone. And it's only through Jesus' purity that we can even pursue this precious gift.

I'll say again, as this is my theme, purity is not the absence of something....it's a mindset. Purity is fully accessible to every believer no matter their circumstances or age. Married, single, old, young, virgin or not. Every believer has access to it. Jesus is purity. Let me say that again, Jesus is purity. If you want to know what purity looks like, study Jesus.

What visual comes to mine when you think of Purity?
My visual is crystal water you can see through with nothing in it and nothing disturbing it (and I'm thirsty for it!). Purity is something that hasn't gotten messed around with. It's a clean undefiled state. Jesus said over and over while He was here and through His disciples letters that His goal was for us to be righteous. To the point where no one could say anything bad about us. Does that sound pure? Yeah it does.

The problem today is that we live in a world of the "past". We remember everything, and most of the time we feel enslaved to it. Isaiah 43:18-19 says "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" 
Jesus is in the business of "new things". That's why He died on the cross, and that's why He rose again. To show us that He took our punishment, the enslavement to our pasts...and He showed us that we can rise again.

But all of this perspective means nothing if you aren't going to seek God. He is the one who makes us pure, He is the one who got rid of our past, and He is the one who makes us new.

The world is full of people who keep things to themselves, not encouragement to be better people is really flowing. We give nice pictures and feelings, but no one is sharing true stories of making the "new" happen.

That's where you come in.

People need to know about redemption stories.
People need to know about other people pursuing purity through Jesus.
People need to know there are people out there really caring about people enough to dress differently than a magazine cover. (and we look super cute doing it!)

You don't have to be up on stage to open your mouth. But no one can force the air to come out. It's up to you.

Idea's:

• Talk about modesty when you go clothes shopping with friends
• Talk about modesty when you walk around the mall
• Talk about modesty with guy friends, ask them what they think

• Talk about purity to your parents and what it means to them
• Talk about purity to your best friend and maybe even have some prayer time if either of you feel enslaved to the past
• Talk about purity with your husband, yes you, you're reading this..it's for you too...ask your husband what he thinks about purity and if Jesus is purity, how can you two be reflecting that (remember it's a mindset, not the absence of something)