The author of “Be Skillful,” Warren W. Wiersbe, says, (I found this quotation from Enduring Word site):

“God created sex not only for reproduction but also for enjoyment, and He didn’t put the ‘marriage wall’ around sex to rob us of pleasure but to increase pleasure and protect it.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

It is not only beautiful, but it is also true! God created the institution of marriage between one man and one woman for the good of the man He created, not to harm him or deprive him of something good and pleasurable but to make his life full, abundant and shalom. Unfortunately, many young people have come to see marriage as a prison, devoid of freedom, peace, joy, and certainly without sexual pleasure.

But the word of God says otherwise. (By the way, this is our final post in the series on Proverbs 1 to 9, which we started a few weeks ago to mentor and train a young man so he may have a life of shalom.)

The marriage of one man and one woman is not an idea conceived by man, but by God. God is the Creator of this institution called marriage, and He created it, as He created everything else, for His glory. In fact, the Bible itself is the love story of one Man and one Woman. Did you know that? Pick any book of the Bible and ask, “What is this book all about?” The answer is always about God and His people. The Bible concludes, or life as we know it will end, when God becomes one with His people through the wedding of Christ and the Church. To proclaim this coming eternal and glorious wedding day, God created man. Then God took one of the man’s ribs and fashioned a woman. Immediately, God established the institution of marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 1 & 2).

Therefore, the call of a young man in the grand picture that God draws is to proclaim the forthcoming wedding of Jesus and the Church. This is done by representing Jesus Christ, as a young man, preparing himself for marriage, and, after marriage, living faithfully in his marriage until death parts him and his spouse. This is the primary way God calls a young man to worship Him. When a young man strays from this divine plan, thinking, assuming, and believing that he can find pleasure outside the established institution of marriage, he not only destroys his sexuality and entire life but also damages his intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.

After addressing many issues in his first letter to the Thessalonian Church, Paul concluded his letter with these words:

“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV

Why did Paul include this at the conclusion of his letter?

I believe Paul did this because he wanted them to grasp the core of his message. God created human sexuality, linking it with the intimate relationship a man can have with his Creator. When a man strives to maintain sexual purity as instructed by the word of God, he is actually fighting for his fellowship with the Holy Spirit. No Christian man can have a vibrant and intimate relationship with God while his sexuality is in disarray.

The sage in Proverbs 5 advises the young man:

“¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.”  Proverbs 5:15-19 NIV

The sage tells the young man, in my own words, “God made you sexual and gave you sexual desires. And guess what? God also created your rightful sexual outlet, a cistern, to help you ‘quench’ your sexual desires, just as a man quenches his thirst with spring water. God intended for you to be intoxicated by the love and pleasure you find from your own cistern, making the pleasure always new and fresh like spring water. But if you reject what God has provided for you, ‘your own God-created cistern,’ you will be left with a public gutter or sewer, which cannot quench your thirst but will kill it—and ultimately, you.”

A sobering warning, isn’t it?

When you really think about it, no one in their right mind would choose to drink water from a public gutter when they can get fresh water from their own spring. But the problem arises when a man chooses his own way instead of God’s way; he becomes blind to his true reality. Even while burning in fire, he says, “I am enjoying life to the fullest!”

Insane!

Why?

Choosing sinful ways—ways outside the word of God—is insanity. It blinds the eyes, numbs the conscience, and silences the mind that thinks and reasons.

A young man who followed God’s way, pursued, and married his own woman, after being married for a few years, praises his woman this way:

“⁴ You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
    lovely as Jerusalem,
    awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
    and virgins without number.
⁹ My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.” Song of Solomon 6:4-9 ESV

All I am saying is this: God is real! God is His word, and His word is God Himself. God’s truth is the only truth this world has. God is faithful to His word, and He honors those who honor His word and fully commit themselves to it. ///