Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Devotional: Friends with benefits. That’s the name of this week’s message. It’s a term that is completely normalized in our culture today. If you’re unsure exactly what that means, it essentially a relationship where two people are physically intimate with one another, yet they’re not committed to each other in any way. People involved in a friends-with-benefits relationship spend time together, but their relationship isn’t romantic and has no strings attached. It’s a hookup, a “Netflix and chill” situation. In a nutshell, it’s a relationship of convenience, not commitment.
But beyond that, even people who are dating are impacted by the resistance to commit. It’s estimated that 70% of couples now move in together, and many put off marriage. Most feel it’s a way of determining if they are compatible, sexually, and otherwise.
Reality is, studies today* confirm that people who sleep together or live together are actually less dedicated both before and even after they marry, if they marry at all. And they have a higher likelihood for divorce than those couples who do not live together. (*What’s the Plan? Cohabitation, Engagement and Divorce, Scott M. Stanley & Galena K. Rhoades, Institute of Family Studies, April 2023)
Following biblical teaching and reserving the sexual relationship for the context of marriage gives you the best chance at a lifetime of connection, trust, and intimacy. The apostle Paul shares words of wisdom that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to set an example in the area of purity. Reserving sexual intimacy for the context of marriage for which it was created is not an outdated theory. It’s biblical truth that, when followed, will bring great benefit and blessing.
Most Christians would say they want a relationship, marriage and eventual family that is God-honoring, pure, peace-filled, and fruitful. But many are not willing to live that kind of life when they are looking for their life partner. Becoming the person who the person you’re looking for is looking for, is a great place to start to have the kind of God-honoring marriage and family that commitment to living by His standards brings.
Reflect:
- If you’ve struggled in the area of sexual purity, confess that before God and commit yourself today to Paul’s words to begin to live in such a way that you would “set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
