If you have not read the previous entry, please stop reading this, and read it first.
As before, I want to be clear that wisdom comes from God, therefore, this rebuke is a reminder to me as well as other believers. If you don’t have God’s Spirit guiding you as you read his word, you will distort it because of your own selfish desires. We must not forget that our natural hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately sick…”
There are many practices our culture accepts and even condones that are wrong and despised by God, and some of them are even becoming accepted by the Church. The one that I will look at today is our culture’s standards regarding sex and marriage and God’s standard presented clearly in his word.
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let not the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterous.” Hebrews 13:4
Throughout scripture it is clear that God designed sex for within the covenant bond of marriage. It is the God ordained means of the “two becoming one flesh (Gen. 2:24).” God intends this commitment to last for life. Of course, anyone can see the obvious emotional advantages to a marriage lasting for life for the couple and for their children. Statistically, there are typically even financial advantages to a couple staying together. Even with this knowledge, with our incomplete view of love and attempting it in our own strength instead of God’s, many become discouraged and believe it is better to divorce than to remain married (I do believe that divorce is allowed by God when one spouse has been unfaithful and remains unrepentant. I also believe that separation and possibly divorce are also necessary in cases of abuse). However, I think that most Christians still oppose divorce even though they have failed marriages just like unbelievers, but for some reason the view of sexual purity before marriage, including the engagement period, has become a grey area even for many Christians. It is not a grey area. It is difficult, and the temptation is extreme, but it is not grey. As Christians we are called to the standard taught by Jesus Christ. He says in Matthew 5:28, “… But I say to you that everyone who looks with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” By his standard even our thoughts should be pure. Other than those gifted by God to have no sexual desire, everyone is guilty of adultery of the heart. So we are all in the same sinful state. This reminder should help keep us humble when standing up for Christ and his standard of purity. We all fall short, but by God’s grace and his Sprit working in us, we can do better, not perfectly in this life, but better. With all our shortcomings in mind, we must say what is right even if we are hated because of the truth we speak. To my Catholic friend who is living with her fiancé, I must say, “You know this is not right.” That is not an enjoyable thing to do. I don’t want to upset my friend or put a rift between us, but if I really love my friend, I’ll tell her the truth gently.
Because I have been tempted to be sexually impure, I can identify with others who struggle with this, but nearly everyone can. However, when it comes to the temptation to engage in sexual activity with a person of the same sex, I don’t have a clue. That is why, I am even more afraid to touch that subject, but any sexual activity outside of the bond of marriage is wrong. We should not engage in it or indorse it. Some Christians have said that a homosexual lifestyle is good as long as it is in a lifelong commitment just like a heterosexual marriage. Therefore, they are for same sex marriage. No matter how sweet a homosexual relationship appears, no matter how good the friendship, no matter how long-lasting, God still calls it impure and degrading.
Before you agree or disagree, take time to read Romans chapter one with a prayerful and humble heart and mind. There are many more passages to read and study about sexual purity as well as marriage that will give you understanding with God’s guidance.
Don’t be afraid. Search your heart, take the “log out of your own eye” so you can see clearly, and then speak the truth confidently with love.
Better is an open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
Proverbs 27:5-6
