40 Days of Purity for Guys by Clayton King

Author:Clayton King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Nonfiction/Religious/Christian/Devotional and Prayer
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2014-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

My father died way too early. He was only sixty-nine and could have lived a lot longer if he had practiced a healthier lifestyle. When he passed away, my wife and I began changing many of our daily habits, including what we ate. I realized that I loved eating crunchy things: chips, crackers, and cookies. A friend told us we needed to learn to redirect our desire to eat those foods by eating something that was actually healthy as well as crunchy. So we started eating almonds. It only took a few days to develop a new habit, but it started by redirecting our desire for crunchy foods.

Your desire for intimacy and love is not an evil desire, but it can lead to destructive choices if it’s not redirected. Just as I redirected my craving for crunchy junk food, you can redirect your craving for a relationship to a better destination. And in turn, your decision will prepare you for marriage where you can enjoy guilt-free sexual intimacy along with sacrificial love.

God has hardwired you to connect with other people, not just to have sex. You need friendships: guys you can hang out with and older men who can give you advice, tell you stories of their own failures and successes, and coach you through tough seasons. You also need females in your life: a mom, a sister, aunts and grandmothers, and friends at church and school. You need to learn how to relate to women, how to understand them, and how to value them as your sisters in Christ. Simply put, you need to be around people, and you need to belong to people in order to become the kind of man God wants you to be.

Redirect your desire for a girlfriend and romantic love by focusing on the other relationships you need to be involved in at this point in your life. Walk with wise people, and you’ll grow wise.

Reject the cultural stereotype that paints you as a mindless, sex-crazed teenage boy who only thinks about how to get a girl into bed. Redirect your need for human connection to healthy relationships with your pastor, your parents, your coaches and teachers, and even your grandparents.

By the age of forty, I had lost all four of my grandparents and both my parents. I am so glad that when I was a teenager, I wasn’t so obsessed with chasing girls that I ignored the important relationships with my own family. Even though they are all with the Lord now, I had strong relationships with them while they were alive. I am now reaping the benefits of those relationships as I practice what I learned from them every day as a dad, husband, leader, and pastor. Their wisdom made me wiser, and you can only absorb others’ wisdom by spending time with them in real relationships.

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