Lisa Barry: You don't have to look very long in this world to find sexual enticements aimed at teenagers--everything from cologne to jeans to popular music is sending the message that young people should set no limit on their physical appetite. But is that really the way to happiness? Today on Gateway To Joy Elisabeth Elliot is challenging young people to put a high value on their bodies and to consider very carefully when and to whom they should give it. Stay tuned for Gateway To Joy coming up next.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking again today with a group of my very favorite people, a very large group in this world--it's teenagers. Although maybe you don't know that you're listening to a woman who's well up into her seventies and you think, "Ah, come on. Am I supposed to listen to some old lady like that? I mean, what in the world does she know about what goes on in my life, in my body and with my friends."

I know it's very hard for you young people to even imagine that any old woman can possibly remember what it's like to be a teenager. Well, I've forgotten a lot of stuff, but I do not forget about the passion that I had for remaining pure.

Many of my listeners have read a book that I wrote some years ago called Passion and Purity. What a book! Why would anybody write a book about passion and purity? What's the connection? It's a very strong connection for those of us who want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I was one of those. I thank God that I came from a very strong Christian home. Both my father and my mother were strong Christians. I have four brothers and one sister, and we were reared in a home that honored God's Word.

Every morning after breakfast we were herded into the living room. Either my father or my mother would sit down to the piano, and we would sing a hymn. We would sing all the verses. Because of that, I would say that probably all six of us learned, without exaggeration, at least 100 hymns. And we sang all the stanzas. We didn't skip the third stanza the way they do in some churches that I'm not going to name today.

That was sort of the foundation of our home. We had this little plaque over the front door that said, "Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation." Our parents taught us that we do not belong to ourselves. My topic this week is "Whose Are You?" You only have one body. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to desecrate it or are you going to preserve it for Jesus Christ.

Now I want to talk to you young guys who have a sister. Maybe you yourself are strongly tempted to sleep around with somebody else's sister, but I bet you don't want anybody messing around with your sister. You would defend that sister against anybody that wanted to take away her purity. Think about it. If you have already given away your purity, I bet some of you are kicking yourselves around the block and saying, "Why did I do that? It wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be." You know, you can't give your virginity away more than once.

Virginity is a priceless gift. Whose are you? If you belong to Jesus Christ that means that everything in your body belongs to Him. So even if you are one of those who has already given away your purity, you can start over. I do want to make sure that I have encouraging words for you.

The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But we have to repent. Even God is not going to give you back your purity. I would long to hear that everyone, every young person, man or woman who's listening to me today would make up his or her mind right now that you will not sleep around. And that you will preserve that priceless gift that can only be given once--the gift of virginity--for the person that God wants to give you in marriage.

How I thank God that He taught me these things through my godly parents, through His Word, through books. And when I married Jim Elliot, both of us knew that this was the first. I have never forgotten, of course, who could forget--I have never forgotten my honeymoon.

We were missionaries in Ecuador, South America. Jim, in the eastern jungle of Ecuador working with a tribe called Quichuas. I, in the western jungle working with a tribe called Colorados. We had waited five years before God brought us together. We had met in college. I was a year ahead of Jim. And Jim had confessed his love for me, but he said, "Bet, God has not given me a green light to ask you to marry me. You go ahead and go to Africa (which is where I thought I was going) I'm going to South America."

He took me to a park on one beautiful May morning. We sat down on the grass about, let's say about five minutes after he had said I love you--the first time he'd ever said it to me. "Let's go and sit down on the grass and talk this thing out for a while." So we sat down, and I have to tell you girls that my mother always told me when I was 13-years-old, "Never chase boys. Always keep them at arms length." Now does that sound ridiculous to you?

You're listening to an old woman, but I can remember those words. So I made up my mind that when we went into that park and sat down on that grass, I was going to keep Jim Elliot at more than arms length. We were sitting there facing each other. You know what Jim said to me? He said, "Bet, I love you. I would love to say, 'Will you marry me?'" "All I know is God has called me to be a jungle missionary. He has not called me to marry you yet. Maybe He will never let me marry you." But he said, "I want you to know one thing right now. I'm not going to lay a finger on you."

Can you imagine a guy saying that to a girl? I'm not going to lay a finger on you. Of course the question is, why not? He gave me the answer. He said, "You don't belong me. You belong to Jesus Christ." I'm asking you today, whose are you? He said, "I'm not going to lay a finger on you because I don't have any rights over you. You belong to Jesus Christ. You go ahead and go to Africa, I'm going to South America. You live in New Jersey; I live in Oregon. You're graduating; I have another year to go."

It did look as though there wasn't any possibility that we would ever see each other again. We talked for seven hours in that park. A few days later we went for a walk, wandered almost unwittingly into a cemetery, where we sat down on a slab. Convenient stone slab in the cemetery. We talked about the strange way in which God had been directing us, each of us, unbeknownst to the other.

I had fallen in love with Jim in Greek class. I certainly didn't let him know it. I tried to keep my mother's rules. Jim had also fallen in love with me, and hadn't let me know. But we began to discuss just exactly what it might be that God was trying to teach us at that time. I want to read to you something written by a man born way back in the 1800's. His name was Kinsley, William Kinsley.

"Just as soon as we turn toward Christ with loving confidence and say, 'Thy will be done,' whatever chills or cripples or enslaves our spirits, clogs their powers or hinders their development, melts away in the sunshine of His sympathy. He does not free us from the pain, but from its power to dull the sensibilities. Not from poverty and care, but from their tendency to narrow and harden. We attain unto this perfect liberty of Christ when we rise above our circumstances and triumph over the pain and weakness, over unjust criticism, the wreck of earthly hopes." I don't want you to ruin your hopes, young men and women.

"Over every sordid and selfish desire, every unhallowed longing, every doubt of God's wisdom and love and kindly care. We are to be childlike in our trust and holy with an all-conquering calm."

So there sat Jim and I on that slab. I began to talk to him about something that the Lord seemed to be showing me. That it really wouldn't make sense for us to carry on a correspondence, which Jim had suggested that we might do, because we would still be trying to hold on to the strings of each other. I said, "Jim, maybe this sounds crazy but don't you think it might be a good idea for us to just call a moratorium. Since I'm leaving in another week, and who knows whether we'll ever see each other again. Maybe we just need to be talking to God and not to each other."

There was kind of a long silence, and then Jim said, "Well, Bet, you're right. And the reason I know you're right is because this morning in my Bible reading it was a story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham had put the most precious thing in his life on the altar. That's where I put you, and that's where you're going to stay until or unless God brings us together."

Tomorrow I'll carry on with some more of this story. Remember that the topic this week is "Whose Are You?" I hope that between now and tomorrow you'll give that some serious thought.

Lisa Barry: I wonder how many of you listening ever set a notebook beside the radio and then use it when you're listening to Gateway To Joy. How many times have you heard something and then tried to recall it later, only to discover that you forgot most of the quote. I strongly encourage you to put a notebook or tablet nearby, so that you can review what you've learned and challenge yourself to do further study.

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Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible. Tomorrow Elisabeth talks more about how to stay pure in a very impure world. That's next time on Gateway To Joy.