Ephesians
5:33 “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his
own wife as himself, and
let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
The
other day I noticed a young lady at the store. She was attractive to
be sure but her attire, left little to the imagination to say the
least. I was rather surprised by it honestly and did my absolute
best to ignore her from that point, but the whole situation got me
thinking. God has blessed me with a wonderful woman, a woman to whom
I will soon be joined in marriage. In her I experience such a joy
and love that I am literally incapable of properly describing it. I
just don't have the words! Now we enjoy our closeness as much you'd
expect but we've kept ourselves from developing a 'physical'
relationship. We have taken the time to develop a relationship based
on our mutual understanding and love, of respect and a cherished
closeness. Just sitting with her and enjoying her presence is more
fulfilling than any momentary thrill I've ever experienced from the
sight of an attractive woman. Having this knowledge at hand I can't
help but wonder, why are we so obsessed as a culture with sex and
sexuality when I real relationship is so much better?
Part
of it I think, is sheer laziness. The world today doesn't care much
for waiting or working towards a goal, we want it now and if possible
even earlier. The satisfaction of an actual relationship takes time,
a lot of time! My fiance and I have been together for over three
years and the closeness and affection we now enjoy was not come upon
quickly or easily. Much like how we've deadened our pallets with
fast food and pre-prepared meals, we've glutted ourselves on sex and
sensuality thus ruining our appreciation for the real thing. We've
found that love takes too much effort, too much time, too much
sacrifice and so we've settled for the easy fix of sex and lust and
called it love.
Having
left real love behind we've come to another aspect, overpowerment.
Love is deep, fulfilling, lovely, and beautiful, but it's a subtle
thing. Sex is right out there, full of endorphins and raring to go!
No work, no mucking about with respect and understanding, and no
subtlety at all. You don't need to know someone for years, and you
don't need to think deeply to enjoy the pure physicality of a sexual
encounter. It seems like, to most people, sex has become the
pixy-stick of the emotional world. No need to bandy about with
subtleties and complex cookery, I want sweet so why not just down a
tube of sugar!
Romans
1:20-25 “For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead,so
that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God,they
did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in
their thoughts,
and
their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they
became fools, and
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
corruptible man; and
birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.Therefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to
dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of
God for the lie, and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen.
Finally
we have the heart of the matter, sin. God says this so we do that.
Sex was supposed to be a number of things: the culmination of the
marriage relationship, the physical example of the couples melding in
spirit, the means for procreation, and an enjoyable bonding between
the husband and wife. Sin has taken this beautiful thing and reduced
it to mere animal pleasure. All of the wonderful meanings and
nuances removed for the sake of pleasure. It's as if someone took a
beautiful song and reduced it to merely a baseline, a dull repetitive
thump with no real meaning and no real point. God gave us this great
gift and we've taken it to use as we would have it, not caring the
worth we're destroying. Sex, like much of the good in this world,
has been taken by sin and used as a distraction, a fleeting pleasure
to blind us to the hell we live in and keep us from seeking God.
Sadly for those who seek this path they will find that sex alone does
not satisfy. Talk to those who have let it take hold in their lives
and you'll see how they've arrived at a place they never sought out.
Sin drove them on and when that pleasure dimmed, pushed them ever
onward, deeper and deeper into greater depths of depravity. Every
step seeming less extreme as they approached it till they no longer
thought strange what they once thought unthinkable.
So
what is sex and sexuality to you? What is the sight of a woman or
man to you? Is it something to be saved and savored, to be given as
a prized gift to your one love? All these women and these men who
parade around displaying all they have to any who looks, what will
they have to give to their spouse? People wonder why relationships
don't last, well, what reason do they have to stay? What more can
they get from you that you haven't already given? My fiance and I
have not yet been 'together', we're saving that for our marriage bed,
but I can tell you now that I would no longer want to live without
her. Our relationship has had the TIME it needs to form, so that
when we do come together after we wed, it will be so much more than
it would have been before and something to add TO the relationship,
not something that forms the basis for it. When I look into her eyes
and see the love she has for me, when I work out the love I have for
her, why on earth would I trade that for a single moment of fleeting
pleasure? Why would you?
Proverbs
5:17-18 “Let them be only your own,
And
not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And
rejoice with the wife of your youth.”
No comments:
Post a Comment