Dearly Beloved,
My fervent desire is that you will live a life of consecration unto the Lord: abstaining from all appearances of evil and being fruitful in every good work (1 Thessalonians 5:22, Colossians 1:10).
I wish to emphasise the importance of sexual purity in our daily lives. We are living in the last days and there is a lot of compromise going on. God’s will is for you to be holy and to abstain from all sexual sin. The Bible strongly declares that God will judge fornicators and adulterers (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, Hebrews 13:4, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Biblical marriage is the legitimate union of a man and a woman before God and society (Genesis 2:21-25, Matthew 19:4-6). Sex was given by God for the purpose of intimacy and procreation within marriage. Sexual immorality involves any sexual relationship outside biblical marriage.
You do not have any spiritual or moral right to have sexual intimacy with anyone you are not married to.
Biblical marriage reflects a legitimate life-long commitment between a man and a woman before God and society to become husband and wife. Sex was given by God to be enjoyed within the security of marital commitment.
Any sexual relationship outside of marriage is sinful, as it is an ungodly violation of your body and that of another (Ephesians 5:29-32).
Sex is not just a physical activity; it has spiritual implications! Sexual immorality can open the door to disease, uncleanness, oppression and depression.
‘Dating’ or ‘living together’ is not the same thing as marriage. Your intention to marry someone in the future is not a licence to indulge in sexual activities with them now. If you want to ‘live together’ with someone as their sex partner, then it is necessary (as a true believer) that you get married to them first, otherwise you would be committing fornication.
The fact that pornography, pre-marital sex, living together, fornication and adultery are prevalent in our world today is no excuse. True Christians are called to be different because we are not of this world (John 17:14-17, 1 John 2:15-17).
God wants you to conduct your body in a holy and honourable way. Don’t allow anyone to violate your body! Don’t seek to violate the body of another!
10 keys to overcoming sexual immorality:
- Repent for wherever you have missed it and receive ‘forgiveness and cleansing’ by faith (1 John 1:8-9)
- Withdraw from ungodly and lustful relationships
- Avoid getting into compromising situations
- Say no to temptation (abstinence is the key to spiritual maturity, not indulgence).
- Appreciate your singleness (get busy with loving and serving God)
- Get married to a true believer
- Honour your marriage (submit to your husband and love your wife; unfaithfulness starts with breaking this simple principle; unfaithfulness is a sin of dishonour!)
- Abstain from pornography (visual or imaginative; usually stimulated by romantic books, lustful magazines, worldly TV, worldly music, worldly movies and ungodly company)
- Feed on the Word (watch Christian TV, read Christian books, listen to Christian music and enjoy Christian movies)
- Engage and be consistent in genuine fellowship with true believers (who can watch out for you, help you, inspire you and correct you).
Never forget that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You do not own yourself and you are not free to do as you like with your body. Instead, you are free to glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:17-20).
Love and Blessings,
Ben Awoseyila