Boundaries

Boundaries and the Truth About Premarital Sex

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 – “As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

God’s rule against sexual immorality is meant to preserve our lives, rather than take away our fun. Adhering to the rule keeps us pure and holy as we follow His will.

Sex outside of marriage affects us in destructive ways. We lose control of our own bodies and take advantage of each other. We become more interested in running after things that satisfy our own desires than in pursuing our relationship with God. That always hurts us. When we give 100 percent of our bodies to someone to whom we have not given 100 percent of our hearts, minds, and souls (as in marriage), then we are splitting our body and the rest of us. Sex outside of a commitment creates splits inside of people.

The body is doing something that the rest of the person has not fully bought into. A lack of obedience is inevitably self-destructive in some way. The Bible always teaches morality in the bigger context of hurting and rejecting God, hurting oneself, and hurting others. All three are named specifically in 1 Thessalonians 4:1 – 8. Obedience serves to protect our lives and ensure a good life. Rules of moral conduct are not killjoys. They are the principles that undergird success in every part of life…including sex. Boundaries make life better!

This devotional is drawn from Boundaries in Dating, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.