26 November | Youth
«Flee also youthful lusts.» 2 Timothy 2:22
When we are in love, we want to spend most of our time with our loved one. More than that, with increasing intimacy, the desire to touch each other awakens. This is dangerous. If it is allowed to happen, the couple will be heavily manipulated by their hormones. And God's will is for us to have self-control. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3 to 8, Paul says that the believer must learn to live in the center of God's will. He teaches that we must have control over our own bodies, we cannot be dominated by unbridled passions nor live in impurity. Young lovers who have sexual relationships before marriage miss the most beautiful thing about love.
Paul says that the strongest instrument for resisting sexual temptations are the legs. Run! Run away! The young person who learns to escape the lure of free sex, pornography, bad friends and the like will have a blessed and happy life.
And why does God ask us to wait until marriage? Does he not want us to enjoy the pleasure He created? None of that. God loves us and wants the best for us. He established Christian principles and values for us to fully enjoy sexuality in the context of marriage.
As boys are generally more tempted to advance the signal, I advise girls to have a clear and firm position on this. They must defend their own honor and that of their family. Their body belongs to God and, therefore, it is He, and not the boyfriend, who sets the rules. To young men, my advice is to be real men and respect other people's honor. Do not do to other people's daughters and sisters what you would not like them to do to your daughter or sister. Furthermore, consecrate your life to God and do not allow hormones to have a stronger voice in your life than the influence of the Holy Spirit.
A final warning for today: Dating more people means you will face more temptations and more opportunities to compromise your principles. If even the most well-intentioned people give in (and statistics prove that most people do), then dating more people means they will end up having more sexual partners. And having more sexual partners means you will bring more sexual baggage into your marriage, and that is terrible! Be wise. Run from it. God's plan is better!