No matter where we are in our lives—young, old, married, divorced, widowed, single—there is one area that all of us must steward with care. The area of sexual/romantic passion.
For some of us this resource, a gift from God, exists in its potential, hidden underground like untouched reservoirs of petrol. Others of us who have participated in an intimate relationship have discovered the gushing, almost overwhelming power of sexual desire, like the force of a petrol spring. Like an unexpected strike while we are cultivating friendships, suddenly the oil gushes out with abandon, heedless of everything and everyone around. For others among us, the oil has ceased to surge out with relentless force, yet the reserve still exists, deep under the surface.
For generations, men and women have built oil rigs—the institution called marriage—over these forceful springs. They recognized that the thick, murky substance, called black gold, was a bountiful resource upon their land, and they respected the truth that both petrol and sexual/romantic passion must be handled with care in order to benefit the owners. If handled carelessly, God's gift of passion, King's gold, creates great harm rather than great good, acting just like crude oil, coating land, animals, and people with its toxic, gooey texture, ruining the crops growing in the area, and forming a mirey bog.
Instead of respecting the reasons behind tradition, recent generations have been exhorted to exude a laissez-faire attitude toward sex and romance. They’ve been told by the leading gurus in human wisdom, “Go ahead! Frolic in it! Have fun! It’s natural—enjoy it!” Then they’re even handed matches to light a fire and dance in the flames. After all, passionate love is explosive. It’s amazing. It’s the black gold everybody says will make us rich and famous and above all—make us feel loved. It’s also black and ugly and deadly for those coated in the oil when the fire ignites.
Just like petrol, sexual passion requires special equipment to reap the benefits we all know it has. The Bible says clearly that the special equipment needed is marriage. Worldly gurus wave aside the significance of a legal ceremony, blithely declaring that a wedding certificate doesn’t make a difference. But God says with incredible clarity that marriage matters. When we enter into a marriage covenant, we bring God into the union—along with His oil rigging.
The oil rigging plunges into the oil well and brings up the natural resource for the benefit of all. The owners of that field can then use the oil to fuel their ovens, their cars, their lamps, and their homes. Petrol converts into many forms for many uses, all of which produce dividends for the couple who submit to God’s covering of marriage. The oil rigging also enables the couple to drill deeper and bring up the petrol sitting in reserve even when the first rushes of passion have subsided.
God’s oil rigging makes sure the passion doesn’t destroy the good seed He’s placed in our souls, the strong character He’s developing within us. However, those who refuse to enter into a marriage agreement are like farmers who refusesto invest in drilling equipment. They let the oil keep pumping out until the whole land is coated with black tar, unfit for man or beast to walk on. In the same way, sexual activity outside of marriage dumps toxic petrol all over the insides of our hearts, clogging our receptivity of Living Water. When oil covers a land, water just runs right off. It can’t penetrate the earth or enable plants to grow.
Some of you may be like me, knowing that the force of a petrol spring exists and wondering how to contain it since the oil rigging is not in place. In these cases, the Lord has said to me, “The powerful force of this desire must be covered by a huge, heavy stone so that the oil does not contaminate the land.” I cried out to Him, “What stone is strong enough to withstand the force of desire when it hits?”
The Lord said, “I am the Rock. I am the One who covers you.”
Ah, Lord, how amazing and wonderful You are! Jesus is the Rock who covers our desires, reserving us for the union that will bring honor to Him. Until that day, He requires obedience and faithful trust. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God…For God did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 4:3-8).
Jesus doesn’t ask what can’t be done. He wouldn’t say to abstain and wait for marriage if we were unable to obey.
Nor can He protect our land if we keep edging the Rock off in order to please ourselves. The oil will seep up and contaminate our hearts, building into a toxic wasteland within our souls if we do not take a firm stand against all sexual activity while single. Once married, only sex for the sake of the marriage partner will please the Lord. Removing the Rock to gaze at pornography, masturbate, contemplate love-making scenes within the mind or on TV, or any other activity that pleases the flesh rather than the Lord, will all pump that black oil into the deepest crevices of our souls.
And eventually toxic exposure will destroy us. (Romans 6:15-23)
Praise God, though, that when we come to the point of repentance, the place where we’re sick of all the pretenses and self-gratifications, Jesus is there to wash us clean. Ephesians 5:26 says Jesus cleanses and sanctifies us by the washing of water by the word. What word? The word of truth. The word of righteousness.
Father, Spirit, and Son will never contradict the Scriptures that testify of them. No one can say that God has authorized their unmarried or extra-marital sexual activity. If they seek to claim a special privilege, they have deceived themselves. Nor can we claim that since God is so forgiving, we’re allowed to wallow in the mire of unrestrained sexual passion anytime we want to then be washed clean. The toxicity of the land will testify to the Law of God: “What a man sows, that he will also reap. He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows to the Spirit, will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Galatians 6:8)
That life is for today. Now. Abundant life.
Praise God for redemption! Praise God for repentance! Praise God for second and third and fourth chances! But let us also choose—choose—to walk in joyful obedience, knowing the great price He paid for our cleansing.
Lord Jesus, today cleanse us, wash us, sanctify us, and place the strong Rock of Your very Person—our relationship with You—over the desire for intimacy that exists within us. We choose this day to submit to You.
Make us a people ready and useful for the outpouring of Your splendor!
(For further Spirit-filled studies and counseling on the stewardship of Biblical sexuality, visit http://www.masteringlife.org.)
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