Passion Pursuit by Linda Dillow

Author:Linda Dillow [Dillow, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-8553-3
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2013-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

DAY 1

God’s Boundaries Are for Your Good

During these weeks together, we have studied many aspects of God’s opinion on sex. One aspect we haven’t yet addressed is that God has given us guidelines and boundaries about how our sexuality is designed to be expressed, even within the sanctuary of marriage.

If you asked ten women what God thinks about sex, you’d probably hear words like restrictive, prudish, and old-fashioned. Things have changed quite a bit in the last several thousand years. How can God’s teaching in an ancient book still apply to how we approach sexuality today?

Although Paul and Moses didn’t have to address questions about Internet porn or sex toys, sexual temptation has always been an issue. The Bible records accounts of rape, sexual abuse, sodomy, incest, and prostitution. Many of Solomon’s proverbs are about what to do with our sexual impulses.

Before we get into specific biblical teaching about what’s okay in the bedroom, we want to address the question, “Why does God give us sexual guidelines in the first place?”

Satan loves to paint God as the cosmic killjoy. Just like he whispered to Eve in the garden, he wants you to believe that God is trying to keep people from pleasure. He whispers that Christians are missing out on all the fun. But God is a loving Father who has reasons for the moral boundaries He gives His children.

Reason 1: God wants to keep you from pain.

You can travel the world and you won’t hear comments like these:

“I am so glad that I slept with all those men before I got married. Those sexual relationships really prepared me for marriage.”

“I love the fact that porn is part of our marriage. It makes me feel so safe to know that my husband thinks of other women when he is being intimate with me!”

Of course you haven’t heard such absurd statements. Sleeping around and porn represent pain and regret. God’s boundaries are designed to keep us from pain. What appears to be restrictive actually brings freedom.

Sin can feel good for a short period of time. For example, having sex in the heat of the moment with someone outside of marriage can be physically pleasurable. However, that pleasure will eventually sour and turn into pain.

1. Read James 1:14–16. What do these verses say about the eventual pain of sin?

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