How Can You Keep Yourself Pure?

Psalm 119:9: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word."


Purity and integrity are attributes noticeably absent in our modern world. Instead, what we find prevalent are people who are "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:2-4).

Many of these people are so brazen in their wickedness, that their consciences are seared to indifference about their behavior. There is no guilt or shame associated with their actions; for to them, their own satisfaction justifies any behavior that they perpetrate.

For one to live a life of Godliness, being obedient to the One True Lord of Hosts, he must be committed to feasting upon the Holy Scriptures of God and living according to its dictates. If a person is not in the Word of God, he invariably will gravitate back to the debasement of self-idolization that seeks to satisfy its own desires over surrender to the Lord. Still, merely hearing the Word is not enough. We MUST also do what it says . . . otherwise we are just kidding ourselves. (see James 1:22-23).

Examine yourself. Do you find yourself separated from intimate fellowship with the LORD through His Word? Do you only pick up your Bible to take it to church on Sundays? Do you even pick it up then? Is your Bible collecting dust on a shelf? Then don't be surprised if you are experiencing the painful consequences of sin in your life. Sin will be evident when you are not permitting the Holy Spirit to use the Scriptures to saturate your soul with the directives that will lead you down the paths of righteousness (see Psalm 119:105). Repentance and recommitment might be in order here. Confess your indifference to the Word of God and get yourself into it . . . and start living it. Then watch out . . . for the LORD will pour out His wisdom and blessing upon you truly in magnificent ways.