Day 263 - God's Perspective
God designed sexual pleasure to be expressed and enjoyed within the bonds of marriage.Rob Eagar says, "Satan wants you to think the best sex is forbidden sex. God says the best sex is in any committed marriage relationship because in that environment you're free to be yourself and another person is celebrating you for who you are. Plus, the commitment is there, so as you give your body and soul over to another person, you're confident that that person is in it for the long haul too. Hot sex happens when you are bonding yourself on all levels, and God says that can only be found in a marriage relationship."
When you are interested in a member of the opposite sex, whether it's a hopeful flirtation or a committed relationship, you must remember that your body is God's temple. Christ dwells within you if you have asked Him to do so. This man or woman you are interested in should honor you and your body in the same way he or she would honor the Lord Himself. Are you receiving that kind of honor? Are you showing yourself that same reverence?
"In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for 'becoming one' with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? . . . So let people see God in and through your body" (1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Msg).
Father, my body is a sacred place. Please forgive me for past sins against my own body. I turn away from those sins and embrace the purity of a life with You instead. Amen.
Suggested reading from the DivorceCare HelpCenter
Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry: Why We Lose When We Give in
By Lisa Bevere
How far can I go? It's the question of a generation wanting straight answers. Often the very questions we ask reveal our hearts better than anything else. In Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry, Lisa Bevere tackles these tough issues by moving us from rules to relationship. There is no question we need a renewal of purity, but what we're doing is not working.
How far can you go? Ask yourself: What do you ultimately want? Immediate and temporary gratification that wanes with the passage of time? Or passion and exclusive intimacy that endures and intensifies?
God wants to move us beyond the restraint of the law (which arouses sin) and plant us into a garden of longing—where our sexuality and passion is carefully guarded and cultivated until the time for its awakening.