Purity is Highly Valued

Objective  

• Teach children about the importance of living a life of purity.  
• Learn about why our bodies are holy.  

Memory Verse  

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the  Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14).  

Introduction  

• Today we are going to talk about living a life of purity. We will also review why our  bodies are considered holy.  

Lesson Outline/Activity  

First, let’s talk about why purity is so important.  

• Purity is actually God’s will for us.
  • God is pure, holy and righteous.
  • As  Christians, we should strive to live in a way that is pleasing to God.
  • Christ is  our example in the way we should live.  
• In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, we read “For this is the will of God, your  sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of  you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor”.
  •  In this verse, the word “vessel” refers to our bodies.
  • St. Paul is teaching  us that we should live differently than others – we should be dedicated to  God and set apart.  
• Both Samson and Joseph are examples of men from the Bible who tried to  live pure lives.
  • Samson took a vow of purity and dedicated himself to  following God. He stayed away from drinking and promised not to become  involved in relationships with women. He grew his hair as a symbol of his  promise to God. When he was tempted and eventually sinned with a woman  named Delilah, he lost the physical strength God had given him.  

• Another Biblical example of purity is  Joseph. While he was working for Potiphar,  an official of Pharaoh in Egypt, Potiphar’s  wife tempted him when they were alone.  Joseph literally ran away from her so that  she could not pursue him, and he wouldn’t  fall into sin with her.  

• Our memory verse encourages us to  pursue holiness. Being holy means living in a pure way.

  Ephesians 5:3 specifically states that Christians should avoid any  sexual immorality, greed or any other impurity because these behaviors are  not proper for Christ-followers. 

• Let’s talk about an example of purity in the world. I know you probably  haven’t yet bought a diamond for someone, right?

  • A. Diamonds are very expensive and valuable, aren’t they?  

  • B. Why do you think this is? They are rare stones and are also known  to be one of the strongest of all stones. Did you know that you could  cut using a diamond? So, are all diamonds the same price? No.  Actually, diamonds are judged on various characteristics, such as  their size and the way, they are cut. These are called color, carat,  cut, and clarity.  

  • C. The most important characteristic is clarity, which refers to the  the purity of the diamond. Diamonds are rated by the number of  impurities they have.  When people purchase a diamond, they look at it carefully under a  microscope. Most diamonds look sparkly with your eyes, but they  have several impurities which can be easily seen under the  microscope. These diamonds will cost less than a diamond that has  very few impurities. These purer diamonds are very expensive  because they are valuable and rare. 

  • So, we can see from the diamond that purity is something highly valued. As  humans, we are much more precious to God than diamonds. And our bodies  should be protected and kept pure and holy. 

  • Let’s think about the diamond example again. If you owned one of those very  rare and expensive diamonds, would you wear it while you were gardening  or painting? Or would you take it off and keep it clean so you could protect  it? It would be wise to take very good care of that diamond to preserve its  beauty. We should be doing the same thing with our bodies. 

  • Let’s talk about some of the ways our bodies are holy. We can read about the  purity of the body in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. It says “Do you not know that  your bodies are members of Christ? … Or do you not know that your body is  the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and  you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;  therefore, glorify God in your body and  in your spirit, which is God’s”. 

  • Our bodies have been created in His  likeness and His image. Jesus took flesh  like ours when He came to earth. We as Christ-followers are members of Christ’s body. Our bodies are temples of the Holy  Spirit. We were bought by the precious blood of Christ. We interact with God  through the sacraments. Because of all these reasons, we need to glorify God  throughout our lives by keeping our bodies holy and pure. We are responsible  for making wise choices about what we see, what we hear, what we do, what  we say and where we go.