Sex.
Such a little word, but such a big deal. Funny how something can be so wonderful, and in other ways, terribly destructive. Sex lies at the heart of a lot of issues of our day and it seems to be a hot topic for discussion. A lot of people have a lot of opinions about sex that they want you to hear. . .or see. . .or believe.
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As a Christian, though, isn’t it great to know that opinions or viewpoints really don’t matter when we have something as valuable as the truth about this issue? We have someone who cares about us so much that he laid it all out for us, clearly and understandably—in His Word, the Bible. Huh? Sex. . .from the Bible? God actually has a tremendous amount to say about the subject of sex. He talks about it in every one of His epistles. Is it surprising to you that God wants you to have awesome sex? He created it— He’s the expert! God designed sex to be the wonderfully intimate, physical and emotional gift that two people experience together, but he intended this gift to be shared within a certain context that He created. And thus lies the problem: humans have always seemed to lose track of this important part of the plan. Sex is designed perfectly for boundaries that God has set. What many people never realize is that boundaries are good.Think about fire as an example. A campfire is very cozy and warms your cold toes when it’s in a fire ring. But allow that fire to jump outside the ring, spark a few dry leaves, and pretty soon you have a destructive forest fire on your hands. Boundaries are the same for us.There are lots of personal boundaries you can set for yourself. Some are optional (whether to pierce your ears, dye your hair or wear freaky clothes) and there are not many consequences involved except people may look at you funny. But God set up His boundaries because there are consequences—consequences we can’t
even begin to anticipate. For this reason, God gave us His law as a boundary. His aim is to give us joy and prevent us from being miserable. So he tells us very clearly in His Word that sex within His boundaries is awesome, sex without boundaries can be horribly destructive. Our God is a God who loves you so deeply and personally that He longs for your happiness! He wants you to have a great time in this life—the best of times! Not a life burdened by poor choices and dumb decisions. And just to help you out, he says,“I’ll make it easy on you—-I’ll help you avoid heartache, responsibilities that you’re not ready for, incurable diseases, poverty and even early death. I’ll give you some boundaries. I’ll lay it all out for you so when you’re tempted in your relationships—and you will be—you’ll have it all figured out ahead of time.” And to make things easy on us, God designed His boundary to be amazingly simple: Don’t have sex outside of a monogamous, married relationship. So why do we try to make things more complicated than they need to be? Either you are or you are not married. It seems like an easy question to answer. So why do I often hear,“but we’re almost married. . .but we love each other…but he’s different than all the rest…but we’re engaged. . .almost engaged. . .going steady. . .soul mates. . .but were gonna get married someday.” So many “buts”— so many excuses. “What’s the big difference,” people say.“It’s only a piece of paper! We love each other!” My response is this: Marriage means more than love. Marriage means “commitment”. And God did not create sex for the boundary of love. He created it specifically to be within the context of total commitment—and that means marriage. God knows if you are going to open yourself up completely, intimately, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, you had better know that your partner isn’t going to walk away. He created marriage for complete and total intimacy— an intimacy founded on commitment, trust and honesty. Engaging in a sexual relationship
