In the Field

Right now I’m working on an exciting project related to the passion of my heart – planning a roundtable on living purity.

The event will be the second in what I pray is an ongoing conversation on the topic. The first was a ladies’ tea party this past summer. At the end of that event we vowed to continue our dialogue.

Recently, friends and I got together to put plans for Part Two in motion. This one will be a larger scale and for both men and women, to take place in a couple months. We’re really working to make the program fresh, relevant and challenging for other young adult Followers of Christ.

One way we’ve been aiming to encourage believers of our generation through the program is by distributing a survey on topics related to sex, sexuality, and the church that will help us plan (which you can fill out here if you haven’t already). We’ve gotten several dozen responses that have been enthusiastic about exploring the topic.

What has been fascinating for me about the results so far is that men and women have been naming the same factors as challenges to abstaining from premarital sex, in particular. There’s also agreement that, no surprise, doing so is counter to our world. It’s also clear that people of God of our generation are hungry for a new, more candid conversation on sex, sexuality – and living purity generally – that goes beyond where the church tends to end the dialogue.

The results also have really burdened my heart in a way I hadn’t expected. God is really using them to help me understand the pulse of other young Christ followers, and how I can be used in an area that God has given me a heart for (and receive encouragement in the process!).

Several times in The Gospels it is noted that Jesus would look at crowds of people and be overwhelmed with compassion for them. In Matthew 9, during one of those moments, he said to His disciples: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (v. 37-38).

I see the “harvest field” in the area of purity an avenue for God’s people to grow in faith, hope and love. Through the pursuit we grow in faith because we learn that what God has prepared for us, as it relates to purity and beyond, is greater than we can fathom, sight unseen. We grow in hope, because our outlook on love, sex, relationships and more – becomes shaped by His Word at work in us rather than society’s views. We learn to live different because we expect the best from God as we seek His face. We grow in love, because we learn the most excellent way of putting others’ wellbeing ahead of our own desires. And, ultimately, we become more like Christ.

I’m looking forward to the next couple months of sowing into His Field in area so in need of workers. I’ll be blogging about any related topics that come to mind during the process. And, prayerfully, the Lord of the Harvest will grow the seeds.