Footsteps #96

Following yesterday’s discussion on Pauls admonition to holy living (sanctification), we need to remember that while salvation is by God’s grace through faith, the Christian life is to be a growing life, constantly striving for the spiritual maturity that has been promised us in Christ. 

Gentile society as a whole had little or no sexual restraint in Paul’s day. In today’s world, many find sexual restraint of any kind distasteful. They feel that passages like 1Thess.4:4,5 were relevant mainly in some other time and place.  Paul’s message would have been no more acceptable in the wider society when he wrote it than it is now. The gift of sexuality is powerful evidence of God’s love for us. Yet, this gift has been so abused that, for many, it has become a curse, a cause of great suffering and sorrow.  

Christians are not to behave as the “gentiles” do. The norm of the wider society is not to be the norm for us. Sex is holy, set apart for marriage between a man and a woman. When indulged in outside of the norms established by God, it is inevitably destructive. Who hasn’t seen in the lives of others, or in their own lives, just how destructive this gift can be when abused? 

God’s restrictions protect us from the physical and emotional damage that is the result of sexual immorality. Remember God created sex and cares for us! It is the Gentiles who do not know God who live lives of passionate lust (4:5). It is ignorance of God that produces immoral behaviour. Those who ignore the Bible’s teachings on this subject reject not only those teachings, but they also reject the call of God and even God Himself (4:8). 

On the other hand, when we follow God’s design, sex becomes a beautiful illustration of the self-sacrificing love that God poured out on us in Christ (see John.13:34,35). It is a gift of God and, enjoyed according to God’s will for us, it can powerfully reveal the kind of love God has for humanity and the kind of closeness that He wants with His people.