Polluted

                                                                            
          Last night I was blessed to be able to go to a Christian youth movement thing called Come Alive.  At first I felt extremely oppressed.  To this moment I can't pinpoint what it was exactly.  but I felt kind of run down and saddened by the looks of our generation.  It is watered down and polluted.  Watered down by what?  Complacency.  Polluted by whom? The Devil of course!

          The pollution is caused by the Devil and our own sinful desires.  Relationships can poison our love for God.  They can cause us to be consumed by a fire that can not only burn us but consume us.  Relationships are  not a bad thing within themselves.  It is how the relationship is handled, conducted and controlled.  Every relationship must be guarded carefully. When you find yourself alone with that person, what are you going to do?  Will you step into the trap?  Will you flee from temptation? Will you walk the line?

           Married people have a different kind of control to their relationship, that we unmarried people don't understand.  So....I won't be getting into that.

           When you form an attachment to someone by becoming close physically, it will hurt the both of you in later years if it turns out that you don't end up 'together'.  Every small step takes you closer to the line. It starts ripping down your convictions and your morals.  When you think, I'm not sleeping around.  I'm not a bad kid.  Just think, if you take a white piece of paper and a paint brush with brown paint.  And you think, Ok, we can hold hands, I only ever said I wouldn't kiss a girl/guy before I was married. Now dip that paint brush and paint a 'TS' on the paper.  TS stands for tiny step.  Now you go out to a movie, Well, there's only one scene that's bad.  We can watch this as long as we close our eyes for the bad parts.  You don't end up closing your eyes for the part, and the picture is stuck in your brain causing lustful thoughts to multiply. Now you may paint, L for lust.  Well, I guess I can kiss her...I really, really, really,want to!!! But...never mind.  That was the past.  I've made new convictions.  Paint a C for compromise.  We love each other so much that we couldn't keep away!  It's no big deal, right?  I mean, you have to do it some day. You can go ahead and paint your whole paper brown.  Your purity, your convictions, and your innocence have now left you. That FIRST step was what started it all. That tiny little "innocent" step really snowballed didn't it? Please don't take that first step.  Once you do, the next thing you know, you'll have lost a gift that was given you to keep for marriage.

         Not every relationship ends this way.  I see people that court their partners and don't get intimate till marriage.  That is amazing and they have the best marriages today.

          Look at your paper.  It is soppy, ugly and wet.  Just like us, we are sinners, wallowing in our filth.  But listen, listen, you don't have to.  You don't have to stare at your own ruins!

          Christ Died that you may become clean and new.  He took himself and laid it over everything that you have ever thought or done wrong.  He placed his crimson, blood stained letter and laid it over your muddied life.  He can make you whole again and restore your purity.  He loves you so much that He died that you might not perish.

          Don't throw what Christ did for you in the trash.  Show him that you respect him enough to save yourself for him, and your intended.  There are so many times that I have spat in His face, and I am sorry for it.  I am broken over it.  I pray that you would be as well.  I pray that you would embrace Christ, because he has been with you through it all, now it is your turn to stay close by his side.

I may sound crazy, but not normal, is cool.  Right?

Prayers,

~Rachel