My choir director, Brian, had an interesting way of approaching a new song. We did not start at the obvious place, like the beginning. “Go to number 5 on page 8,” Brian would say. We’d work on a difficult section of the song at number 5 until we had that down. “Turn to page 12 and we’ll take it from the third measure.” We went to what seemed like, random sections, and worked on parts of the song. Finally, “Let’s take it from the top.” We would turn to page 1 and start the song. The first part of the song was pretty easy, but as we got to the more difficult sections, we had the advantage of having worked on these with a trained guide, our choir director. What we worked on were not random parts, but were difficult sections that needed extra attention. Once we had sung the whole song together, we went back and worked on the difficult parts some more until we could do them confidently.

This is a good analogy for the journey to purity. Once the Holy Spirit has convicted us, and we listen to the prompting, we can start into the healing process with a group and a leader who has been through the battle and has freedom. As we did in the choir, we work on one issue at a time. Each issue is a challenge. The attraction to sexual immorality is not one issue, it has many component parts. You get to work on these difficult issues with your group. How would it sound if you performed a song and all you sang was the part you practiced on page 8 and 9? You performed it well but it was incomplete. Likewise, once you have worked on some purity issues and think you’ve got it, you will discover there are still some rough spots. You can go back and work on those with your group just as we did in the choir. A rough spot may be getting through the first Christmas holiday season as a pure man. You were doing pretty well from September to mid-December, but realized you are going to need to have a plan for changing circumstances. Accept the process. You have been at this a long time, and it will take time to get free, but you will. You can win in this battle with God’s strength.

1 Timothy 6:11- But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (ESV)

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