Rooted and Built up in Christ

I started this sexual purity series 3 years ago and I just realized I never finished it 🤣. If you've read the previous posts in this series, you'll remember I mentioned that it was going to be a 3-part series, and today I'll be sharing part 3 😊 Yay! Finally! I was reminded about this series because of a post I made on my Instagram page exactly 6 years ago today. You can check out the post here: dara_mamora  and follow me in case you're not already👀.  Before we get into the topic for today, I'll like to reiterate that the concept of sexual purity isn't just limited to not having sex before marriage as sexual purity is first and foremost a thing of the mind/heart because sex doesn't just happen. Before the actual act, certain seeds were planted in the mind that facilitated the action. Seemingly innocent acts of listening to a kind of music, watching a certain movie/show, reading a type of book, hanging out with a friend/certain group of friends can lure us ...

We probably have heard this quote or similar sounding ones before: "The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. And the first to forget is the happiest". While this quote encourages us to do things we normally find difficult (apologizing and forgiving) to do; it has the wrong motivations. Apologizing and forgiving is not about being brave or strong but about being obedient to God. We should apologize or forgive not because we want to be seen as the "bigger or better person" but because God said so. Doing these things to be seen as "bigger or better people" is pride and God hates pride (Proverbs 16:5). Secondly, God has instructed us to love everybody and love is not proud (1 Corinthians 13:4). Besides the fact that forgiveness is a commandment from God, there are two other primary reasons why we must forgive. We'll explore them below. We must forgive because God forgave us Jesus showed his love for us from the...