Purity -a guest post

Hey y'all! Since Emily Grace is away at camp, I'll be guest posting for you today! My name known around the blog-o-sphere is May Amelia, but you can call me May. :) I'm going to be posting about something a little different than Emily usually does, and I'd love to hear your thoughts about the matter so feel free to comment below and tell me what you think.

Purity. Even the word makes you think of something white, right? :) What is purity? Sometimes I think we define purity as applying to just dating/courting, in dealing with the opposite gender in general, etc. But I'm asking you all to think about purity in broader terms. I'm talking about purity in your motives, thoughts, actions, and day-to-day things. Let me define purity for you in terms of this: acting and thinking in ways that are pleasing to God. Pretty simple right? In fact, that's what Emily Grace's blog is all about. Doing things that are "pleasing to the Lord." (And I didn't even plan that ahead of time.... cool!) =]

The first point of purity I'm going to talk about is purity of the mind. We've all been there. Watched, read, or listened to something that you knew was not pleasing to God. I'm completely guilty of this myself. How did you feel about it afterwards? I'm guessing if you're like me, pretty rotten. :) We live in a culture where swear words are cool, explicit scenes are the norm, and crude jokes are a dime a dozen. Think about it. The kinds of things you fill up your mind with will one day reveals themselves in your thoughts, motives and actions. My question for you is this: what are you filling your mind with? Are they things that will help you in your Christian walk or things that will hinder you? The point I'm trying to get across is this: don't ever settle for second-best. Don't settle for music with bad lyrics, movies with cuss words, or books with inappropriate material. Is good, clean media entertainment rare? You bet it is. But God is a God of excellence and desires nothing less for His people.

The second point is purity in motives. As Christ-followers, it is our goal to strive to become more like Jesus everyday and one of the ways we can do this is by aiming to have pure motives. Take clothing choices for example. I often wonder how many times I've looked at a piece of clothing at a store and thought, "Wow if I wear this, I will get lots of attention." As girls, I think this can be a big pit-fall for us. But getting attention shouldn't be our motives for dressing. It should be to please God. That is our goal. We represent Christ! What an exciting and daunting thought. We are His children and all reflect His image. It's ok to love fashion! That's not taboo, but remember that we are only looking for the approval of an audience of One. If you struggle with purity in dress (or anything else), ask God to help you examine your motives and reasons. He is there for you! All you need to do is ask.

I've covered only a few parts of what makes up the definition of purity, so I encourage you to dig a little deeper about the topic if this is of interest to you.

Thank you Emily Grace for allowing me the pleasure of guest posting and thank you all for taking the time to read! God bless you!

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 Corinthians 10:31

May Amelia is a homeschool graduate. When she's not blogging, she can be found devouring her latest literature find, writing stories the old-fashion way with a pen and paper, or watching I Love Lucy re-runs. She loves Jesus, has self-diagnosed arachniphobia, and finds great joy in red jelly beans. You can find her over at her blog, The Beauty of Ordinary Days.