A Pathway to Purity Blog

For many men, the daily bombardment of temptation and opportunity for sinful actions can be overwhelming. And when we begin to feel overwhelmed we can feel hopeless and soon find ourselves stuck in a cycle of sin, repent, repeat. In my walk towards greater purity and wholeness, I have seen that during the times when I succumbed to those temptations, it usually came down to a lack of faithfulness…

As I look back at the beginning stages of my pursuit of purity, I recognized that there were times that I would respond to temptation almost immediately. I would give no thought as to the consequences of my potential choice; no thought to reaching out for prayer. No thought whatsoever. I felt tempted so therefore I compromised. One lesson that I have since learned is how to pause before acting out…

Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of walking alongside many men who were seeking to live a life of greater purity and wholeness. One of the comments that I repeatedly heard many of those men make is that their sin was based on how they felt at a specific time. Some men shared that they felt insecure or lonely, while others shared that they felt too tired, too stressed or too overwhelmed,…

Traffic lights bring order to millions of roads around the world with its three distinct colors. A green light lets us know that it is safe to proceed ahead. A yellow light serves as a caution for us to slow down and prepare to stop. And of course, a red light tells us to come to a complete stop to avoid causing an accident. I like the analogy of traffic lights as it relates to our pursuit of greater…

Sometime ago, I was on Facebook responding to messages. There was a brief opportunity to click on profile suggestions of girls I did not know, but who had enticing profile pictures. I had to make a choice: click on the "innocent" photos or reject the opportunity to explore temptation. I chose to take a stand for purity because relationship with God, and the trust of others, is more important…

During my journey towards greater purity I have had to learn how to deal with tempting thoughts. In the beginning of that journey, I sometimes felt like I was in the middle of a war zone and that it would just be easier to give in rather than stand firm and choose holiness. One way I was able to see freedom in my thought life was to create a list of verses, a spiritual armory so to speak, that I…

When I reflect on the story of David and Bathsheba, I see four lessons that I can learn and apply to my own life. I see lessons about exposing sin, humility and confession, consequences, and God's work in spite of man's sinful choice. Let's take a deeper look at these lessons.

1. "Your sin will always find you out."

In 2 Samuel 12:7-12, we read that Nathan exposes…

I would like to share a verse with you that has been a part of my journey towards greater spiritual growth. In Matthew 3:8 it says:

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

I find this verse not only uplifting but challenging as well. In the past, when I would choose to sin, I found it easy to repent. The reason I found it easy was because I looked at my repentance process…

For a long time, one of the greatest temptations I faced in life was curiosity directed towards sin. While I didn't always seek out sin, I did seek out sinful curiosity too often. It was easy to justify this curiosity because I always told myself that I would stop just short of crossing into sinful territory. I still remember the excuses I would tell myself (among so many others): "I'll stop before…

We can all be lured by the temptation for control and many of us want to have as much control over situations and people as possible. But how do we cope when situations spiral out of control and people don't respond the way we want them to? Many of us have unhealthy, and even unholy, ways to cope with the threat of losing control.

The issue of control and learning to let go was a major area…