When I was a single twenty-something, it seemed like I was surrounded by unhappily married people. This made me wonder, What am I really waiting for? Will I save my heart and body just to be miserable a few years into my marriage? Or is there another way to view marriage?

Defining emotional purity can be a bit like trying to touch air. We can see the effects of air, but we can’t grab it. It slips through our fingers with us being unaware. We can’t see emotional purity the same way we view physical purity. It’s not tangible and frankly can be a bit elusive. But the effects of our emotions are very real for many of us.

When it comes to relationship, we are bombarded with rules. There are many helpful, good, biblical guidelines. But when we start looking to these rules as the plumb line of purity, we’ve lost sight of God’s standard.