Sexual Purity

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. Eph. 5:2 Walk as Christ walked. These two passages seems overwhelmingly impossible don't they. How can we imitate God? The Greek word for imitate is to mimic. You have seen 2 pantomimes facing each other and they mimic each other so well you swear that they are actually using a mirror and there is only really one of them. You can't tell which is leading and which is following. You understand that they didn't decide to do such an "act" when they got on stage but rather they have been working on it for a long time, they face each other and practice what the other is doing for hours on end and that's the key; facing each other and copying what you see the other do. That's what Paul is saying to us here, turn your face toward God and copy what you see him do.
This is difficult in every area of life but it is most difficult in the area of Sexual Purity. We have a tendency to look at Sexual Purity as something that teens have to be concerned with before marriage, and they do, but that's not all there is to it. Sexual Purity is an issue the whole church needs to be concerned about. Men seem to have the struggle with their eyes. For a guy the eyes are the gateway to impure thoughts which almost always turn into impure actions. What men allow themselves to see (there is enough to see but we don't have to look, when we choose to look and gawk is what I am talking about) and fantasize about is a tremendous struggle for almost all men.
What women tend to struggle with isn't so much look as it is for attention. Most women want to be noticed, this is a healthy, God-given desire that is to be met in the confines of marriage. The problem is that women often look to be seen in ways that aren't glorifying to God: immodesty, dressing in such a fashion to be seen.
Both men and women have to battle for purity, I've mentioned only a couple of struggles we face together. I am confident there are many of you who struggle to remain Sexually Pure and that this battle is a battle sometimes won and sometimes lost. Ephesians gives us the power and tools to be victorious. I'll talk about them more at length this Sunday but for now know that it starts with turning your face to God, copying what you see him doing and walking as Jesus walked.
May God give you grace and power to walk purely before him and for his Glory today.