(Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Napoli)

Thankful for Restoration from the Ripoff of Sexual Compromise

By Jacqueline Napoli

At this point, you can’t really go for a drive,  flip through the TV or Netflix, explore the internet, or listen to a Spotify station, without confronting the reality that our culture is drenched in sex-obsession.  We are way past the days when America was a Christian nation that viewed sex as something sacred and reserved only for marriage.

In 1962, prayer became illegal in public schools, and then the Ten Commandments and the Bible.  Before then, prayer and the Bible were a daily part of public education, in our One Nation Under God. The sexual revolution soon followed, because God’s laws were cast off.  A downward spiral began, and sex became downgraded from precious to mundane (and often, profane), until we woke up in a culture where sex is part battle-cry and part obsession, with porn addiction, sex-trafficking, pedophilia,  adultery, and divorce epidemics completely out of control.  We aren’t doing so hot in the sex area.

In contrast to our culture, where just 1 in 4 people think sex belongs only in marriage, God says that biblical marriage is the only right place for sexual relationships.  That idea has become viewed as radical, extreme, and even hateful. But the truth is, God is the most loving Father we could ever imagine, and he set up His guidelines to protect us from harm and create conditions where He could bless us intensely. He’s not this giant meanie trying to keep us from having any fun. That is a lie that completely misrepresents His immensely loving designs for us.

Most of us have experienced, or have friends who have suffered, divorce. I have, as a child and as an adult, and the pain and loss are beyond staggering. It’s like having your heart physically ripped apart. Interestingly, that actually happens with every breakup where there has been sexual intimacy, even between casual friends. That’s because an unbreakable love bond is created.

Problem is, if that relationship gets ripped apart, the hearts get torn, too. Think how God says that when a man and woman are joined sexually, they become one flesh. It’s true. And the breakup brings total devastation. And what’s possibly worse, is that the next sexual bonding is not only sort of glued on top of a ripped up heart, but the bond is much weaker the second time around, and the next ripping apart is not as difficult to do. Each successive bond gets weaker, until sex is a recreational sport, trust and intimacy don’t exist, and true, lasting love just a non-real fairy tale. God’s plan is so much better.

God designed sex to be an amazing, loving, artistic, incredibly profound expression of total trust, total commitment, and total safety, between two people who are committed for life, beyond any shadow of a doubt.  First, pick a truly godly, honorable person to fall in love with.  Do not settle. Then, get radical, enter marriage as virgins (or “recommitted” virgins), and dedicate your lives to living out the bible. You will create conditions for deep, lifelong, rewarding love, and a sex life that gets to be expressed in safety, trust, and freedom.

It is well known that the people who report the greatest sexual satisfaction are in committed, monogamous marriages. God designed it that way: sex is how you express the love in your heart, using your body. It’s a two-way, physical love letter, and love letters need real, true love to matter. Lifelong, godly marriage creates conditions for that real, gratifying love to flourish and thrive.

The world system of casual sex is a ripoff designed to break hearts, destroy families, and prevent God’s plan for love and emotional safety from passing on from parents to children for generations. Even if you haven’t seen it in your own life or family, it’s real, and God can make it happen if you obey and partner with Him.  It’s so worth it.  And so are you.