Toy Stories: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head — Real Roles vs. Interchangeable Parts - Friday
Today’s Verse
Song of Solomon 7:10
I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. (ESV)
Can you imagine a couple planning their wedding, sharing their hopes and dreams… for their relationship to be shattered soon? Of course not! They are dreaming, looking forward, starry-eyed even, thinking of a future together. Romance. Fairytale. That’s the focus, right?
But did you know that if a couple is having sex before marriage, they are ignoring a huge trap even while making their plans for cake, venues, colors, photography? Couples who are living or sleeping together while planning their big day are almost 85% assured to be separated in less than 5 years. Either the marriage is called off before the big day ever happens, or it ends prematurely in divorce.
As a pastor, I try to help pre-marriage couples develop a right perspective on two words: passion and purity. If you can practice directing your passions and guarding your purity before marriage, you will lay the groundwork to direct your passions and guard your purity after marriage.
Passion before marriage looks like a deep, compelling enjoyment of one another in a variety of good ways: playing games, binge watching TV shows, walking in the park, sipping coffee, and enjoying great conversations. Purity before marriage is choosing to abstain from sex in all its forms, saving the gift to be experienced when the time is right.
After the wedding, passion looks like everything we noted above, plus the addition of the gift of sex. And purity becomes the enjoyment of a developing, deepening, growing sexual relationship with your spouse—and your spouse alone.
It takes a cooperative effort between yourself and God… let Him work in you. Align with His heart, His thoughts, His instruction. As our minds are transformed, our hearts are changed, and sexuality within the context of marriage can be unleashed to be the beautiful gift it was intended to be. It’s worth waiting for. It’s worth defending. It’s worth the work to make it all it can be. Our deep enjoyment at the right time, in the right way, brings God a deep sense of joy. He is for us, friends.
APPLICATION
Scott identified a couple of steps you might want to take if you’ve missed the mark with all of this. If you choose to break up and heal up, we will pray with you, for you, and help you get in a group, find counseling, and heal. If you choose to stay together and pursue purity, we can help you connect with a mentor couple and a community of Christ-followers. If you choose to get married, we’d love to do your wedding on December 6 for free. Just register and bring a marriage license, and one of our team members will do a short ceremony. Stop by the Help Desk at your local campus this Sunday to learn more!
PRAYER
Read, pray, and meditate on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
