0520 WHY SEXUAL SIN?

WHY SEXUAL SIN

 

It seems to be one of the most universal temptations, and very few people make the passage from childhood to adulthood without a fall in this arena. And as we fall, we make excuses, or we reason our way around it, or we keep the focus on other areas. But there is only one answer, and we would do well to give attention to it today. 

 

I remember the first time I saw a “dirty picture.” I suppose I was 9 or 10 years old. Another boy had gotten hold of one of his older brother’s magazines. He brought it out and invited me to join him in looking at some of the forbidden pictures in it. I wavered between saying no and being accused of being a goody-goody two-shoes (whatever that meant). Even so, I was curious. Then I hung somewhere between the innocence of childhood and the guilt of adolescence. We looked at the pictures, and all I knew for certain was that it was somehow adult material, and I was seeing something I was not supposed to see, but at the time, I wasn’t quite sure what was supposed to be happening in me. Just a few months later, no one had to tell me about it. It was too late. I was filled with hormones and excuses, both of which continued to affect me, even after my baptism into Christ at the age of twelve. By then, the cognitive dissonance between conscience and practice was strong. So, I did what any adolescent would do. I tried to argue with my conscience, my Bible and my youth minister.

 

“I have the right to do anything,” I said.

“But not everything is beneficial,” he answered.

(I paused. Am I only allowed to do what is beneficial? What, exactly, does that mean?”

 

I repeat: “I have the right to do anything” (Brilliant strategy, isn’t it?)

He answers, “but I will not be mastered by anything.”

(I’m talking about rights, not about following orders from above me!)

 

I say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” (I’m trying to say that such things are perfectly natural.) 

“…and God will destroy them both.” (Exactly what is happening here? Is this supposed to be somewhat helpful?)

 

“What am I supposed to do, then?”

“Flee from sexual immorality.”

“Don’t you mean ‘resist the devil and he will flee from you?’”

“Flee youthful lusts. Resist the devil. Don’t give Satan a foothold.”

“But what about that verse in the Bible that says, ‘Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world?”

“And the woman looked at the fruit and saw that it was pleasing to the eye and good for food, and desirable for gaining the knowledge of good and evil.”

 

“But why is sexual sin so highlighted, as if it’s worse than other kinds of sin?”

“All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” 

 

“So my body was made for something other than self-gratification?”

“So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

 

“And what about trying out different partners until you find one with whom you really click?”

“Let the marriage bed be undefiled and the relationship between a husband and wife be kept pure.”

“Even when I’m single?”

Be faithful to the wife you have not yet met. And do not take something from a person that can never be given back again.”

 

“But I just want to experiment and explore.”

“A wise man sees danger coming and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”

 

“You sound so, so, reserved and unloving.”

“Love is patient. Love does not demand its own way. Love bears all things, endures all things, love never fails. Consider this time of your life to be preparation for being faithful to your partner in future marriage.”

 

“So this is how I love my wife, whom I may not have yet met?”

“Now you are beginning to understand.”

 

“I would like to marry someone who has reserved herself for me.”

“Amen. Go and do likewise.”