The word of God commands us to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).
Why?
We are originally created for love. All our body organs work perfectly in love. We enjoy life when we live in love. Not loving God and others is the shortest and easiest way to make our life miserable. And guess what? Our vital organs, primarily our hearts and kidneys, work efficiently when we love God and others. Our body parts are perfectly compatible with love, and incompatible with hate.
Isn’t that amazing? I mean, think about it.
Pretty much God is saying, “Do you want to be happy in life? Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to enjoy life to the fullest? Then, love God and love others.”
It’s the same with forgiveness. We are commanded to forgive those who wronged us (Matthew 6:14). When we forgive others, God forgives us; when we give forgiveness to others and receive forgiveness from God, we enjoy life. Holding grudges against others is like “drinking poison, hoping that the people we hold grudge against die.”
Tragedy!
Guess what?
This same logic works for sexual immorality too.
The word of God says, “Don’t look at a woman lustfully,” (Matthew 5:28) – and not lusting after a person we are not married to is good for us. Our soul won’t have any regret, shame and guilt which block sexual pleasures. That means, when we choose not to lust, assuming all other things remain the same, our marital sexual life becomes exciting and fulfilling.
A person who has wandering eyes (for example, a husband of one wife), has the most miserable sexual life ever. (I said “a husband of one wife” because there is no healthy sexual life outside the confinement of marriage.)
But remember, we all are broken people because of the fall of our foreparents (Adam and Eve). Even if we know the right thing to do, we are unable to do it (Romans 7). We need the grace and mercy of God that are revealed in Christ Jesus to work in and through us through faith, to give life to our body which is dead because of the original sin.
That is why the Bible says, holiness is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27, John 14:23, Romans 8:9-10, Galatians 2:20 and many more verses). (Song, “Lord, I need You” – by Matt Maher) ///