“Do You Have Sexual Standards?”
One of the most powerful temptations of today is to engage in sexual intercourse outside of the marriage relationship. It was powerful back in the day and unfortunately, it is not any better today. Every where you turn from television, movies, the internet and advertisements there are visuals and opportunities that make the temptation even greater. My pastor often says, “I spend so much of my time trying to get the single people out of the bed and get the married people back in the bed.” This week, I have been meditating on I Thessalonians 4:1-8 in the Life Application Bible and wanted to share it with you. The commentary on this passage said, “Sexual standards were very low in the Roman empire and in many societies today, they are not any higher.” This statement brought me to my question for the week, “Do you have sexual standards?”
First of all, what is a standard? A standard is a rule or principle that is used for judgement. So what rules or principles do you have when it comes down to sex? The Bible gives us a standard let’s read the standard:
“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”
Not setting godly standards and living by them means giving in to the temptations of this world. The temptations such as; living together before marriage, sleeping around with someone who you are not married to, or being married but having sex with someone other than your spouse. Giving in to the temptation has disastrous results. Each time that someone gives in to this powerful temptation, there is HURT. Sexual sins ALWAYS hurt individuals, families, businesses, churches and most importantly, God. There are physical consequences and there are spiritual consequences. The only way that we can avoid the hurt is to place our sexual desires under God’s control. God created sex for procreation and pleasure. It was meant to be an expression of love between a husband and a wife. When sex is limited to the marriage relationship, we can avoid hurting ourselves, our relationship with God and our relationship with others. My prayer this week is that we would all have sexual standards that line up with God’s standards.
Until next week . . .
Carolyn
Marriage from A to Z 