Day 24 - Safe Sex

I begin my time with God in song tonight - The Lord's my shepherd and an old one from my childhood, The Lord of the Dance. It's good to be here again. Tonight, for the first time, I have lit a candle and relax in its flickering light. I think about the Bible verse I read earlier from the book of Romans, chapter 12 about offering our bodies to God. He's not just interested in our spirit, our thought life and our emotional well being. He's interested in physical things too. My body matters to him. 

The traditional Christian view, backed up by many references in the scriptures, is that sex before marriage is not good. This doesn't sit nicely with the experience of our modern society. The word the Bible uses is 'fornication' and for many, it's viewed as old fashioned and simply not relevant. After all, what could be wrong with expressing our love for one another? Surely love is a good thing? Here are my thoughts on why God asks us to wait till marriage:

Here is a snail. They're rather cute, aren't they? Inside the hard exterior is a little creature with a very soft skin, and it would be very vulnerable if it didn't have such a strong shell. This is our heart, so soft and vulnerable. It's been in the news recently where a young woman has posed, naked, for her boyfriend, only to find, after the relationship has ended, that he has posted the photos up on the internet for the world to gaze at! The poor girl feels totally abused. Her nakedness is so precious and now it's like the soft inside part of her heart is exposed to the wind and the weather.

Inside the very depth of our being is a loneliness that came when we lost relationship with our Father God. Sexual union is the closest we can get to becoming one with another person. The Bible calls it becoming 'one flesh'. In fact, having Sex was described in the Old Testament as 'knowing' someone. It's the most intimate we can be with another person, and people treat it like it's just a physical act. We are whole people. What we do with our bodies affects our souls and affects our spirits. 

I believe marriage is to sex what a shell is to a snail: a safe place. You might say to me that many marriages don't last and plenty of hurt comes from divorce. Yes, that is true, and there is always healing available to the wounded. However, let's not give our innermost being to every person we meet. Let's trust that God might just have our best interests at heart when He shows us that real 'safe sex' is in marriage.