"Our goal is to not kiss until we are engaged." Once I said that to my friends their shocked faces surfaced. They already knew my relationship with Nate was not going to be a typical one, at least in the way the world thinks as typical. We both knew we wanted to stay pure till marriage. In fact, since I was in high school, I have worn a purity ring every day (other than when I played soccer, you do not want to jam your finger with a ring on, trust me).
Thus, Nate and I made a choice to set our boundary at holding one another close. Why there? Does the Bible say anything against kissing before marriage? No, but neither does it say anything about dating. In Bible times, many marriages were arranged. Some may have married for love but many times the couples wouldn't spend any alone time before the wedding.
Here is what the Bible says in Hebrews 13:4 "Let the marriage bed be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." The marriage bed is to be held in honor. What does that mean? That means if you do anything with someone else and you aren't married, you aren't honoring the marriage bed. Each time you have sex with someone not only are you creating an invisible emotional bond with them, but you are also possibly sleeping with someone else's significant other.
Now you may be asking, what does that have to do with kissing? Well, unless you are like a friend of mine from college who used to think that when her parents kissed it made a baby, not much. But God created us to be relational beings. He created sex as something good, in a marriage between a man and a woman.
But 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us of something that has to do with kissing. It says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." When you are physically attracted, or in love, to someone your bodies will want to do what God created them to do. There's only one boundary between kissing and sex and that further physical touch. To not be tempted, Nate and I decided to put in a barrier, so we don't go further.
We are sort of doing what Eve did in the garden. She said they could not eat the fruit or touch it or they would due. God never said they couldn't touch the fruit. She put in this barrier so she would not fall into temptation and sin. And you can see how well that worked out.
Will some people think we are strange? Yes, but that's no different than how we are viewed other days. We are set apart. We are in the world but not of it. This doesn't make us any better than others. It just means we are trying to live a different life to reflect God's glory.
So, are you staying pure in your relationship? What temptation do you face? How can you reflect God's glory today?
No comments:
Post a Comment