• Week 138 Feb. 4 •

"Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people."(Eph. 5:3)

V-Day is upon us! For those of you out of the hipness loop, that stands for Valentines Day. I'm concerned about something though, it's how this world treats love. Every Valentines Day the world floods us with its idea and message of love. When we take a closer look at what commercials, ads, and movies are saying though we realize they don't match up to the kind of purity God desires. Before V-Day arrives I want you to already be thinking about where you're going to take a stand for love, God's way.

This generation views 16 to 17 hours of television each week and sees on average 14,000 sexual scenes and references each year. That's more than 38 references every day. (According to www.battlecry.com) The way media portrays a holiday like Valentines day is all about romance and sex. As they say, sex sells. Unfortunately its true, billions of dollars are made each year from people who were lured in by the desire for a sexual experience. As a Christian we are faced with a crisis, and many questions. How do we respond to our cultural and what it says about love and sex?

We must understand that God created sex and it's awesome in the right context. Feel free to go read the book of Song of Solomon in the bible. Sex is an enjoyment of true love between a husband and wife. There are no exceptions, shortcuts, or loopholes to this. God didn't create love for sex, sex is only one part of expressing love in a marital relationship. Love does not need sex. When you read the description of love in the book of Corinthians nothing about sex makes the list of qualities. We cannot allow culture to trick us into thinking that to have love you need sex. Don't be fooled. True love is about purity, commitment, and timing.

As Valentines Day approaches and you are bombarded with the ads, the commercialism, and the peer-pressure take a deep breath and view love God's way. If you aren't in a marriage then sex has nothing to do with your Valentines Day, it has nothing to do with the way you should love others.

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (Phil. 4:8) It's not just about what you do with your body, it's also about how you control your mind. Don't allow yourself to justify impure thinking, motives, or actions when it comes to sex. Keeping yourself pure is about the decisions that need to be made by what you do, what you see, and what you think. When I want to challenge young people in relationships I often ask these 3 questions; "How are you doing with your eyes? How are you doing with your hands? How are you doing with your mind?"

I challenge you to check out a site called www.truelovewaits.com. Below are the 5 commitment steps to pledging your sexual purity before God and others. It is especially crucial for teenagers today to make a tangible step towards embracing a biblical view of no sex before marriage and then committing to live it out.

The Five Commitments of True Love Waits

If you are interested in making this commitment tell your family and friends, and I would love to know as well, then you might want to express it in a tangible way. Here is a great choice of jewelry for guys or girls that will help be your reminder of your covenant with God. www.bobsiemondesigns.com

I'm praying for all of you. Seek out what God's definition of love is, live pure, and honor him with your body.

- Josh