UMMMMM Feels Good!!!

Recently I began working through this workbook, "every single woman's battle: Guarding Your Heart and Mind Against Sexual and Emotional Compromise" by Shannon Etheridge. I read this passage which has really made me think:

"When challenged by His higher standards, we're
comforted that we don't look too different from
those around us. Trouble is, we don't look much
different from non-Christians either.

Our adolescent Christians are often
indistinguishable from their
non-Christian peers, sharing the same
activities, music, jokes, and attitudes about
premarital sex. Kristian, a teenager, told us,
'Our youth group is filled with kids faking
their Christian walk. They are actually taking
drugs, drinking, partying, and having sex. If
you want to walk purely, it's easier to hang around
non-Christians at school than to hang around with the
Christians at church. I say that because school friends know where I stand
and they say,' That's cool- I can accept that.' The Christian kids mock
me, laughing and asking, ' Why be so straight? Get a life!'
They pressure my values at every turn.' She told us
about Brad, a lay leader's son, who told her, 'I know intercourse
is wrong before marriage, but anything short of that is
fine. I love to get up under a bra.'

Sadly, the adults are no different from the Christian teens.
Linda, a single career woman, says her adult
singles group at church has 'players'- men and women who
stalk their prey to satisfy their own needs..."

In short.... UMMM Feels Good.... so let's do it!!! Standing up for your faith is not easy, but it is important. We look at the temporary, but what we don't look at is what the consequences of the temporary are. I am not just speaking to you reading this. I have made many choices on a daily basis that I wish now, I had never made. I am searching for love and intimacy but this world teaches us this can only come through a sexual or physical relationship. Don't kid yourself, sex is not the only thing that compromises this relationship with God. As singles we try to see just how far we can go without crossing some invisible line set up by society today. God made us as sexual beings but never intended for it to be something we use to hurt one another with or something we use to meet our own selfish needs. Women, lets face it... We are wired to be emotional being. We tend to look at the world through our emotions attached to our experiences. It is impossible to have a physical relationship of any kind without having some type of emotions attached to it. If we are honest with one another there is no such thing as "no strings attached", or "friends with benefits". And men, lets face it that you are wired to be physical in a lot of ways. Emotions are not your first reactions. All of our bodies, men and women, were made to react to touch of any kind. But we as adults have had many experiences and have the ability to make decisions based on self control and what is right and what is wrong. No matter the experiences given to us as a child, we are adults now. We can learn the right way to do things. We have to make the choice. That choice isn't always easy but it is possible. As I read the passage above I felt sad actually. I thought of many of the mask I have worn over the years that allowed me to not have sexual or emotional integrity. I thought of the times that I had chosen to meet my own selfish needs rather than to truly seek out what God wanted for me in a loving, intimate relationship. I think of the many promises He makes to me to love me and do what is best for me as I choose to seek and know Him more. I think , "Is choosing what feels good temporarily, really worth giving up the plans He has for me? Especially when I know what He has is so much more Amazing and fulfilling than anything I could choose without Him?