I tell you, a real man would wait.

I made the choice to keep my purity until I'm married because this is proof beyond words that my wife is worth waiting for. I'm not saying it's easy—only that's it's worth it. She's worth it.

When my friend told me many years ago that he was going to maintain this level of purity, it was foolishness to me at the time. Before I made the decision for myself, purity gave me insecurity. "I need the love of someone else," I thought. "I need affirmation that I am worth something."

But then I began a relationship with Jesus Christ. And my world flipped upside down and inside out.

I'm not saying I've never messed up. I'm only saying that when I came to God, seeking a way when there otherwise was no way, He gave it to me. But it was my decision: to hold on to the past or to let it pass once and for all. I was faced with the decision to give up or to get up. I chose to take the hand of Jesus Christ to get back up and to keep going.

I'm pure because God said that I am. I'm pure because Jesus showed me that I am. On the cross, with His blood, He re-created me. I've been made new. The old has gone! The new is here!

This is the beautiful thing about committing to a life of purity: I'm saving myself for something greater than what I could ever get right now. God has already hand-selected the perfect, most beautiful, most talented, most God-fearing and God-loving girl just for me. He did this thousands of years ago!

So it all boils down to a waiting game—a game I'm willing to play. And while I'm waiting, I will serve the Author and Perfecter of my new life. And when the time does come to be united with my wife, I will rejoice!

I just want you to know that I've found my strength in Jesus Christ. And I don't know what's in your own past, but I just want you to know that it's not the end.

I'll never claim to understand your own personal feelings on the matter of purity. But I'll proclaim this one simple Truth: Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

It doesn't matter how you may have started. What matters is how you're going to finish.