Last Sunday evening, we gathered as men to learn how God is calling us to grow in our pursuit of sexual purity. I’m thankful that in a sex-saturated culture, God’s word presents a compelling vision of how to use our bodies for His glory! Here are some of the resources Aaron recommended. They all ground our hope for change in the gospel of Jesus Christ and would be helpful for men and women alike, though the first book below is written primarily to guys who are married or engaged.
Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God
Written by C.J. Mahaney, this book focuses on the pursuit of intimacy, not sex, as the goal of the marriage relationship established in Genesis 2. Sex within marriage is meant to reflect and deepen intimacy, not create it. Addressing guys in particular, C.J repeatedly emphasizes the importance of “touching her mind before you touch her body”. The chapter on studying your wife to learn how to bless her has been especially helpful in my own marriage.
The Purity Principle
Randy Alcorn explains why the pursuit of purity is the pursuit of pleasure. God intends us to fight lust not by embracing self-sufficient stoicism, sacrificing pleasure and joy for the sake of what is “right”. Rather we fight for purity by seeking real, lasting joy in God instead of settling for the façade of joy offered by lust, which ultimately proves an empty promise. Read this short book and learn to fight lust with a superior pleasure.
Sex is Not the Problem (Lust is)
Formerly published under the title, Not Even a Hint, Josh Harris explains how the fight against lust is essentially a battle to protect the incredible, God-glorifying gift of sex. Several of the chapters candidly explain how to fight specific temptations to sexual immorality with the truth of the gospel. Josh consistently points the reader to God’s grace, not our own effort, as the only source of true strength in the fight for purity.
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