The Promise to Yourself

Last post we talked about waiting and the promise to God. If you missed it, scroll down and you’ll find it at the end of this post.

This time, we’re going to talk about waiting and the promise to yourself.

I always found it interesting and a little silly when people said to “save yourself” for marriage. Save myself? What does that even mean? Of course I know it means to save sex for marriage, but I thought the wording was silly until I started writing these posts and studying more about purity. Saving ourselves means we are literally saving ourselves from so many things when we remain pure.

I will reiterate this over and over again: sex isn’t just sex. It’s emotional and spiritual and purity is a very serious and special part of us. God desires and commands purity. There’s a reason He designed sex as something that should only happen in a marriage between one man and one woman.

I’m not naive to the fact that people have sex outside of marriage and with various partners for different reasons that to them are okay and make them feel good, but that is not part of their design or how their souls were meant to be filled. It’s temporal and careless behavior.

It’s like the story of a stop sign that my dad likes to share. There’s a stop sign on a little country road and every time the man stops, there are never any other cars. He keeps stopping at the stop sign, but one day he decides he doesn’t want to stop anymore because there is never any traffic. So he begins to run the stop sign. At first he’s a little cautious, but he keeps running it because there isn’t traffic, until all of a sudden a truck comes out of nowhere and the man gets hit by the truck.

That could have all been avoided had he just continued to stop like he was supposed to.

So it goes with ourselves.

God is giving us the direction and the “rules”, and everything He tells us is for a reason. If we do something outside of the “rules” for the first time, but nothing happens, and we continue to do it, we’re just opening the door for destruction and telling it to come in.

With sex comes physical connections. Emotional connections. And even spiritual connections. If we’re not connecting with the right person, in the right situation, and in the will of God, we are running that stop sign.

So I believe that our little phrase “save yourself” is us not running that stop sign, but being smart in how we approach situations. I said I would only write from my experience or what I’ve studied in the word, so I can’t relate to anything that happens when in sex outside of marriage. However, I know that it’s outside of God’s will, and that can’t be blessed by Him because it is outside of the umbrella of his blessing…and don’t forget David’s situation with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11,12)!

So make the promise to yourself that you will do everything you can to avoid destruction when it comes to your love life. Tell yourself that you are a child of God and worth so much more than the affects of sex outside of marriage. Promise yourself that you will take care of your body physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Purity is too precious to be tarnished by a careless decision because you think no harm will come.

Remember, your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, thus giving you the ability to do this, and calling for care and purity.

See you next time,

Love, Sarah Lynn

*Side note: The man didn’t only put himself in danger when he ran the stop sign, but other people as well. Even if he didn’t see any actual harm he was causing, he was putting others in danger. We need to think about that when we are dealing with purity. We are not the only person involved, so we need to be cautious about how we handle the situation. Lust, flirty comments, being alone, how we dress and behave, etc.

**Another side note: Redemption and restoration aren’t the “go ahead” for sin, but please remember that God is the God of forgiveness, redemption, and restoration, so if you’ve made a mistake, don’t lose hope, God is still for you!

Father God, tonight I ask that you help us realize how special we really are. That You created us with intent and careful design. Teach us to care for our bodies in every aspect. I lift up every person reading this, that You would speak to their hearts and give them understanding of how You desire us to live purely and in obedience to You. Keep us on the path of purity. Give us the strength to do so. Increase Your presence in our lives. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

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