Are you broken because of bad relationships and mistakes you’ve made with the opposite sex?
Have you been torn in two by a girl you’ve fallen for—then slammed against the rock walls of life? Are you bruised, wounded, hurting?
Consider this: Every time you enter into a relationship and share emotional intimacy with a girl, your heart gets bruised from each breakup. And if those relationships have crossed lines physically, sexual sin has crippled your walk with Jesus Christ and is clouding your judgment.
We don’t know where you fall on the teenage “dating-and-relating scale.” Maybe you’ve given yourself away, piece by piece, in your pursuit of finding fulfillment in a relationship. Perhaps purity is a priority, yet bad breakups have crushed your confidence.
Regardless of your circumstances, it’s safe to say you want to get things right with God. And when it comes to matters of the heart, you want to steer clear of sin, heal past wounds and move ahead with a clean heart, a new vision and a fresh start. But how do you change?
More specifically, how can God mend you?
If you’ve had trouble making relationships work here on earth, why should you think that a relationship with God would last? In your frailty, brokenness and humanness you cry, “Do you still want me?”
The simple answer is, “Yes.”
Grasping this truth can transform your life.
Supernatural Love
First, clue in to the good news: Our Heavenly Father loves you unconditionally. Yeah, yeah, as a Christian you’ve heard this a million times. Now it’s time to start believing it.
This means that you can mess up, fall down, break the rules and run away—and even come to Him in pieces. He will accept you, because He has loved you since the foundation of the world. Before you existed, He saw you and loved you. (See Psalm 139.) Before you came into existence, He purchased your salvation. Where formerly there was no path into His presence, you now have a way carved out of the wilderness—straight to His heart.
Here are some promises you can count on:
• “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
• “He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)
• “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
But you need to respond to God’s amazing love with three crucial steps: (1) admit your sin, (2) repent and (3) strive to follow Jesus.
Heart Transformation
Next, do your best to grasp another truth: Having a girlfriend cannot complete you. There is only One who has the power to make you the young man you are created to be: God.
And when God completes you, He doesn’t just take the broken pieces and paste them back together so you look like something useful again. He doesn’t glue together what pieces He can find and there you sit on the shelf, obviously broken, pieces missing, glue stains all over and not very good for holding anything inside.
No, He reclaims your brokenness, your crushed spirit. He transforms you into the real you, not the guy you think you should be or the one your friends say is cool. Through Jesus, you are completely restored—completely remade.But this transformation doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not free of struggle. Sin is crouching at your door, and temptation will strike. (See Genesis 4:7 and Romans 7.) You may even stumble at times. Yet the more you learn to trust Him, the stronger you will grow in Christ. The Creator will teach you to resist sin, to walk on the “narrow road” with Him (Matthew 7:13-14) and to see with new eyes. And what was stolen from you or given away in the past, your Heavenly Father will create anew.
Why would you want your old life?
A guy who desires authentic love and Christ-centered confidence . . .
. . . invites God to begin a work in him. The Lord, in His desire to make you pure and holy, is going to work with you as a whole being. He’ll teach you about faith, goodness, knowledge, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and self-control—as well as authentic love.
So if you want to get lust under control but also have a problem with laziness, be prepared. God’s going to teach you about hard work, setting goals and filling your life with healthy activity.
. . . invites God to give him a fresh mindset. If you’re sick of the way you view the opposite sex but would rather play video games than read your Bible, get ready for a fresh look. God will do all He can to prove to you that His Word is relevant, interesting and more soul-satisfying than this year’s greatest Xbox 360 release.
. . . invites God to instill in him new definitions of purity and holiness. In its simplest definition, holiness means, “wholly set apart for God.” Purity and holiness go hand in hand. So don’t just offer God your libido. Offer Him your whole being. You can’t put those things in better hands. 
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TRUTH SOURCE
Read about other young men who have taken a stand for purity and holiness. Get this book from Breakaway. TRIBE: A Warrior’s Battles by Michael Ross and Manfred Koehler |
