The most important thing single missionaries can do to maintain sexual purity is to love God with their whole beings, their heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10, Deuteronomy 6).  Your relationship to God must take top priority

·         Have a daily, consistent devotional time to maintain your relationship with God. Include at least reading Scripture, meditating, and praying.  (Bible study for sermon preparation, writing, teaching preparation, and so forth is not enough!)

·         Receive God’s love, experience God’s love, surrender to his love and let him love you (as a Single).

·         Make a specific commitment to God to live a holy life free of sexual sin.  Write this commitment down and place it where you will see it daily (desk, mirror, etc.).

·         Study, meditate on, memorize, and apply scripture on this topic.  Note that in the major passages where the Bible talks about being holy it is in the context of sexual sin (Leviticus 18-20, I Corinthians 5-7).  Review these on a regular basis.

The second most important thing single missionaries can do to maintain sexual purity is to love others (Luke 10, Leviticus 19).  Your love relationships with others must have a high priority as well.  Relative to sexual purity this would include the following.

·         Learn the cues in your host country that signal sexual purity and sexual availability.  These include such things as dress, eye contact, posture, gestures, and so forth.

·         Be aware that even within cultures people vary widely on the meaning of touch.  Something you consider indicating only friendship may be interpreted as sexual by another person.  Touch is not improper, but be aware that what you mean as “good touch” may be interpreted by another as “bad touch” or erotic touch.

·         Be especially alert when in “high risk” situations, such as being alone with another person, spending prolonged time working with another person, and so forth.

·         Meet weekly an accountability partner (or group) to answer specific questions about your sexual purity.

The third most important thing that single missionaries can do to maintain sexual purity is to love themselves, to care for themselves as they care for others. 

·         Accept your own vulnerability.

1 Corinthians 10:12 reminds us that if we think we are standing firm, we must be careful or we will fall. 

·         List (actually write them down) sexual things you will not do, such as those found in Leviticus 18-20.

·         List sexual things that may be permissible but not beneficial, things that may master you as in 1 Corinthians 6.  These are things not specifically mentioned in Scripture, such as certain movies, music, TV shows, books, Internet sites, and so forth.  These are not necessarily sinful, but they may lead to sinful behavior.

·         Concentrate on “renewing your mind” as described in Colossians 3 and in Ephesians 4.  Take every thought captive to make it obedient to God as described in                 2 Corinthians 10.  Think on the kinds of things mentioned in Philippians 4.

·         Avoid danger zones for you.  If you know that you are tempted visually, do not watch videos or TV shows that you know will contain graphic sexual images.  If you know that you are tempted verbally, do not visit Internet chat rooms or read explicit romance novels.

·         Develop an early warning system to increase your awareness of problems coming.  Knowing that you will be talking with an accountability partner is likely to make you more aware of danger zones.

·         Develop a plan for combating temptations which will occur in spite of your attempts to avoid them.  If your greatest temptation is visual images, train your eyes to “bounce” away from such images as soon as they appear.  If your temptation is through touch, train yourself to withdraw as soon as any touch becomes erotic.

Joseph was a handsome, single, young man with hormones raging (just past puberty) when he was taken to a different culture.  When his boss’ wife asked him to have sex with her, he politely refused and gave her good reasons for his refusal.  He refused her repeated requests.  One time when he went to work and they were alone in the house, she grabbed his coat and asked for sex, but he left his coat and ran out of the house.  You can maintain your sexual purity too, but you may have to run from a person, or your computer!