When God created Adam and Eve, He created sexual beings. Sex was a beautiful uniting of two people coming together in marriage to enjoy one another and populate the earth. It was never intended to be what it has become today. We live in a sex-crazed world where everything is deemed either sexy or not so sexy. Cars, clothing, places we go, and people are all described as sexy. The image of being sexual is in our faces constantly. Women are brought up to think they should look sexy no matter where they go. They are subtly taught to pose, dress, and act sexually as a child. Young girls are exploited by the way they are made to look and act like adults. Hands on protruding hips, pouchy lips, make-up, etc., are all designed to make them appealing. Moms think it’s cute, and companies see it as an opportunity to make money, but it is sexualizing our children. It breaks my heart because I lived long enough to see some of these girls grow up and try to use the same methods of expressing themselves to get attention. This was never God’s intent. God expects us to be sexually pure. He designed sex to be shared between one woman and one man for life.
Genesis 2:21-25 “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
The battlefield for this is in the mind. In Romans 12:2, we are taught to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” To be transformed in our minds, we must feed it the right ideas and truths. This only comes through God’s word. We read, the Holy Spirit enlightens us, and we are convicted. Conviction should lead to a repentant heart and a change in our minds.
Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:28 about sexual impurity when he stated, “That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” When it is everywhere, it is difficult for men because they are turned on by sight. Because of this, it is important for women to clothe themselves in a manner that does not draw attention to sensual areas of their bodies. This area is just above the cleavage line and just below the thigh. In the Old Testament, God used the revealing of the thigh as a sign of a harlot. We certainly don’t want to be in that category through ignorance or by rebellion. We are not to be a stumbling block to anyone. Dressing modestly is not only in obedience to the Lord, but to protect the men around us, and this is important. While a man should turn away and not take that look that leads to lust, we should not be responsible for putting him in that position.
Romans 14:13 “Let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”
God ordained sex to be an honorable thing. It allows us to be satisfied and fulfilled in a way like no other. We become one with our spouse, and it is beautiful. The affection between husband and wife should be so strong that they treat each other’s body as their own, as they become one flesh.
Ephesians 6:28 “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”
Hebrews 13:4 “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
While many do not think about how they are seen by others or the consequences their lack of sexual purity could bring, it is a serious thing to God. No sexual immorality ever comes about by accident, it starts with the person thinking that look, and that thought was no big deal, until it’s not! We must protect ourselves from becoming sexually impure by what we see, hear, and do. This sin is mentioned in I Corinthians 6:9 with all the other sins that we consider horrible. We need to see the path to it and protect ourselves and our relationships now. In verse 11, Paul says that we were guilty of some of these sins, but as believers, washed in the blood of Jesus, we must take a stand for purity and live to uphold that stand.
I Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
When we love God so much that we are willing to place safeguards in our lives and forego what the average person considers normal dress and activities, we are showing evidence of our love for God and the plan He has for us. We are to be a light to the world, and if we are just like them, there is no reason for them to desire our Savior.
It is time for examination. Are there things in your life that need to be eliminated to fulfill your desire to be sexually pure? What about what you view on your computer, phone, or television? Think about the clothing in your closet. Does it show cleavage, fit tightly, or is it shorter than your thigh? Does the music you listen to fill your mind with immoral pictures? We will never grow to be more like Jesus until we are willing to answer these hard questions and then change.
