Transformed – teen devotion – September 12, 2021
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
God’s Desire for Your Sexual Desires
Everything God created is good.
God created you. God created sex.
So, sex and your sexual desires are good gifts from God.
Does the idea that “sex is good” sound strange to you? You are not alone.
Our culture is hypersexualized, and sexual sins have been normalized. Most often, what we see and hear about concerning sex is not good. After all, sexual desire is what leads to sexual sin: lustful thoughts, pornography, and inappropriate relationships before marriage and outside of marriage.
So, what’s a Christian to do? How are you to think about sex and your sexual desires when our sex-obsessed culture leads us to view these as bad things and not good gifts from God?
God’s desire for your sexual desires is that you avoid all the badness and experience all his goodness by controlling your body’s desires in a way that is holy and honorable. That means when you date, you don’t sexualize your desires as “passionate lusts,” instead you realize your desires have a holy place—in marriage! And then, as you enjoy marriage as a gift of God’s love and the holy place for sexual desires to be satisfied, God sanctifies you (sanctified means made holy). In other words, when we enjoy sex the way God created it to be, we also enjoy life the way God created us to be: pure and holy!
But what if your past sexual experiences have been bad, and not good? What if you’ve sinned sexually? What if sexual brokenness has made you feel less whole and even less holy? Whether your past is marked with promiscuity or purity, this truth is for you: “Christ loved [you] and gave himself up for [you] to make [you] holy, cleansing [you] by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:25–26).
God knows we struggle with his command to “avoid sexual immorality.” Therefore, this very same God “gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 4:8) to assure you and comfort you with the good news that you are washed pure and made holy in Christ Jesus.
This is who God created you to be. Live how God created you to live!
Prayer: Dear Lord, especially when sexual temptations enter our life, remind us that our sexual desires are not bad, but they are from you and can be controlled in a way that is holy. By your Holy Spirit empower us to live pure lives in Christ that give honor to you in all we do. Amen.
