EPISODE ONE
Welcome to the first episode of the Purity Series.
I am delighted about the mental transformation, awakening, and impartation of grace that will take place in the lives of every woman who comes across this series. My prayer is that by the time we journey through these conversations, you will begin to see yourself through the lens of the beauty, glory, identity, and holiness that God sees you in.
I am Tolulope Owasanoye. A woman who is still becoming, still learning, and still evolving.
It is indeed an honour to write to you on this topic, and I am excited to have you join me on today's episode.
You see, I used to think purity was merely about abstinence from sex.
Don't have sex.
Don't do this.
Don't do that.
Don't cross this boundary.
But my understanding began to change when the Holy Spirit impressed this thought upon my heart:
Purity is not an act; it is a state of being.
And when we say "being," we are not talking about your physical or external state alone.
We are talking about what is happening within you.
What goes on within you?
Your thoughts.
Your mindsets.
Your imagination.
Your desires.
The things you allow yourself to dwell on when nobody else is watching.
Because you are not just a body.
There is more to you than what can be seen.
And this is where I want us to begin.
GOD AS THE CREATOR OF THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE
Let's go back to the beginning.
Before there was a conversation about purity, there was creation.
The Bible begins with this simple statement:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." — Genesis 1:1
The Christian faith begins with the belief that you are not an accident.
You did not simply appear.
You were created.
And if we accept that God is the Creator, then it gives us an important question to consider:
If God created my body, what did He create it for?
Colossians 1:16 takes this even further. It tells us that by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
So, according to Scripture, the world we can see is not all that exists. There is also an invisible reality that we cannot see with our physical eyes.
And this matters when we begin talking about the human body.
When God created us, He chose to give us physical bodies capable of interacting with the physical world. Scripture tells us that humanity was formed from the dust of the ground and created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27; Genesis 2:7).
Now, I want you to pause here.
If God created your body intentionally, then perhaps your body is not something meaningless that you simply happen to live in.
Perhaps it has a purpose.
Perhaps it tells us something about the God who made it.
And this is where our conversation about purity begins to become bigger than sex.
Because before we ask, "What should I do with my body?"
We should first ask:
"What is my body?"
THE DESIGN AND NATURE OF THE PHYSICAL BODY
Humans have terrestrial bodies, while Scripture speaks of celestial bodies as well (1 Corinthians 15:40).
We are made from the dust—the very material of the earth—so that we can live and interact within the physical realm.
Yet, we are also made in God's image.
That tells us something important: your physical body is not the whole story of who you are.
Your body is visible.
But you are more than what can be seen.
You are not merely skin, bones, organs, a face, a figure, or a shape.
You are a whole person, created by God, with a body through which you experience and interact with the world around you.
Think about it.
You see with your eyes.
You hear with your ears.
You speak with your mouth.
You create with your hands.
You move with your legs.
You think, reason, learn, imagine, and create through the incredible systems God has placed within you.
Your body gives you access to the physical world.
And this is where I want us to think a little deeper.
What is your body for?
Have you ever asked yourself that?
Not, "Do I like my body?"
Not, "Do people think I'm beautiful?"
Not, "How can I change my body?"
But:
"What did God create this body to do?"
YOUR BODY AND GOD'S PURPOSE
Your body is not merely flesh.
It is God's creation.
And Scripture gives us another important picture of the body when it calls the body of the believer the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
The word temple matters.
A temple is a place associated with the presence and worship of God.
So when Scripture describes your body this way, it gives you a completely different way of seeing yourself.
Your body is not worthless.
It is not something to despise.
It is not something to use carelessly simply because it is yours.
It is something that should be treated with honour.
Now, I want to make a distinction here.
The Bible explicitly tells us that the believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
From this, we can reasonably understand that our bodies should be treated as sacred and stewarded in a way that honours God.
That second statement is an interpretation of the biblical principle.
And I want us to learn to make this distinction throughout this series.
I don't want you to simply believe something because I wrote it.
I want you to ask:
"Where does Scripture say this?"
Then ask:
"What does this Scripture mean for my life?"
That is how we grow in understanding.
JESUS AS THE MODEL
For Christians, Jesus gives us the clearest picture of what it means for God to enter the physical world.
John 1:14 tells us:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
Think about that for a moment.
Jesus took on a physical body.
He walked on the earth, ate, slept, touched people, served. worked, wept, spoke, and even suffered.
His physical body was not irrelevant to His earthly assignment.
It was part of how He carried out His work.
And Scripture tells us in 1 John 4:17:
"...as he is, so are we in this world."
This does not mean that we become Jesus or possess His divine identity.
It means that, as believers, our lives in this world are meant to reflect Him.
So here's another question:
If Jesus used His earthly life to reveal God's will, what should my own life reveal?
What should my body communicate?
What should my choices communicate?
What should the way I carry myself communicate?
The visible creation of God ought to reflect something of His invisible reality.
And as a believer, you have been called to live in a way that reflects God's will on the earth.
This is one way I understand the purpose of the physical body: it gives us a means through which our convictions, choices, work, service, creativity, and obedience can become visible in this world.
YOUR BODY WAS CREATED WITH INTENTIONALITY
Think about your body again.
It has parts designed for communication.
It has systems that allow you to breathe, eat, move, see, hear, think, create and survive.
Your senses connect you to the world around you.
Your hands can build.
Your legs can take you places.
Your mouth can speak life or destruction.
Your mind can imagine possibilities that have never existed before.
Every part of you is an asset.
And when you begin to see your body this way, you stop looking at it merely through the lens of appearance.
You begin to see it through the lens of purpose.
Perhaps your brain isn't merely there for you to pass examinations.
Perhaps God has given you the ability to think, reason, imagine and create because there are things He wants you to contribute to the world.
Perhaps your hands aren't merely there to hold your phone.
Perhaps they can build, write, create, serve and make something that did not exist before.
Perhaps your legs aren't merely for movement.
Perhaps they will carry you into places where your life will make an impact.
Your body is not the purpose.
It is part of the means through which purpose is expressed.
And that distinction matters.
THE CALL TO STEWARDSHIP AND PURITY
This is why you must steward your body.
If something has been entrusted to you, you have a responsibility toward it.
Scripture says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3–4:
"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour."
Notice those words: sanctification and honour.
Purity, then, is not simply about avoiding a particular sexual act.
It is about learning to live in a way that honours God with your body.
This includes abstaining from sexual immorality.
It includes submitting your body to God.
It includes learning to treat yourself with honour.
It includes becoming conscious of what you expose your mind and imagination to.
And yes, it can also affect how you dress, because what we do with our bodies can communicate what we believe about them.
But I want to be careful here.
Modesty should not become another way of measuring a woman's worth or placing the entire burden of other people's thoughts and desires on her body.
The deeper question is:
Am I learning to honour God with the body He has entrusted to me?
That question reaches further than clothing. It reaches into the heart.
YOUR BODY AS A LIVING SACRIFICE
Romans 12:1 says:
"...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
Present your body.
Not just your Sunday self.
Not just your church self.
Your body.
Your everyday life.
Your choices.
Your habits.
Your relationships.
Your private moments.
Your public moments.
The things you do when nobody is watching.
This is stewardship.
You are not being asked to hate your body.
You are being invited to understand its value and surrender its use to the One who created you.
Because a holy God dwells within you, Scripture calls you to treat your body with reverence.
And that includes caring for it physically.
Cleanliness and hygiene may seem like ordinary things, but caring for your body is also part of learning to value what God has entrusted to you.
Purity is not an excuse to neglect the body.
Purity teaches you to honour it.
WHAT DOES AN IMPURE LIFE DO?
If purity is about alignment with God's design, then what happens when we move in the opposite direction?
Scripture shows us that sin affects our fellowship with God and can place us under patterns of slavery and bondage.
Psalm 24:3–4 asks:
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?"
And Romans 6:19 speaks of presenting our members as servants to righteousness rather than allowing them to become instruments of sin.
This is why impurity should not be treated casually.
But I also want us to understand something:
The Christian message is not simply, "Don't do bad things because God will reject you."
The gospel tells us that God calls people out of sin because He desires relationship with them and wants to transform their lives.
So if you have already made mistakes with your body, this conversation is not an invitation to shame yourself.
It is an invitation to return.
Grace does not make purity unnecessary.
Grace makes transformation possible.
YOUR PURITY OBLIGATION TO YOUR BODY
So, what does stewardship look like practically?
It can mean:
Abstaining from sexual immorality.
Submitting your body to God as a living sacrifice.
Learning to carry your body with honour and dignity.
Being intentional about what you allow into your mind and imagination.
Practising physical hygiene and caring properly for your body.
Learning to establish boundaries around people, environments, media, and situations that continually pull you away from the convictions you are developing.
But notice something.
None of these things begin with a list of rules.
They begin with understanding.
If you know that your body has value, you will treat it differently.
If you understand that your body belongs to God, you will begin to ask different questions.
If you understand that your body is part of how you live out your purpose, you will become more intentional about what you allow it to participate in.
Understanding changes behaviour.
PURITY IS MORE THAN RESTRICTION
Understanding your body as something created intentionally by God changes everything.
Purity is not a burden or merely a set of restrictive rules.
It is the glorious responsibility of learning to honour the God who created you and, for the believer, hosts His Spirit within you.
When you honour your body, you are acknowledging its Creator.
When you care for it, you are stewarding what has been entrusted to you.
When you refuse to use it carelessly, you are recognising that your body has a purpose beyond temporary pleasure.
And when you submit it to God, you are learning to bring your whole life into alignment with Him.
But perhaps the most important question is still the one we started with:
What is your body?
Now, after everything we have discussed, I want you to answer that question for yourself.
Don't simply repeat my words.
Think about it.
Search the Scriptures.
Ask questions.
What do you believe your body is?
Who does it belong to?
What is it for?
And who gets to define its purpose?
Culture?
Social media?
Your friends?
Someone you are attracted to?
Your own desires?
Or the One who created you?
I want you to sit with those questions.
Because this series is not going to be a list of rules that I throw at you and expect you to follow.
I want us to reason together.
I want you to ask questions.
I want you to search the Scriptures.
I want you to challenge your assumptions.
And I want you to discover why God says what He says.
Because when you understand the why, obedience stops being merely about restriction.
You begin to see purpose.
You begin to see wisdom.
You begin to see yourself differently.
And perhaps, for the first time, you begin to understand that purity isn't God trying to take something beautiful away from you.
It is God teaching you how to honour what He has given you.
Your body matters.
What you do with it matters.
How you see it matters.
And what you allow to happen within it matters.
As we step into this journey together, my prayer is that you begin to walk with a newfound reverence for the body God has entrusted to you.
And if you are reading this and you don't yet understand all these Christian ideas, that's okay.
You don't have to pretend that you do.
Keep reading.
Ask questions.
Search the Scriptures.
Think about what we are discussing.
You are welcome here too.
IN OUR NEXT EPISODE...
We will go deeper.
Because if purity is not merely about what happens to your body externally, then we have to ask:
What is happening inside you?
Your mind.
Your thoughts.
Your imagination.
Your desires.
And the things nobody else sees.
That is where our next conversation begins.
Stay with me.
And share your thoughts or questions in the comments below.
© Tolulope Owasanoye
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