Let’s get it right out there. Don’t hide your bulletin … the word is permissible in church. God invented sexual intimacy with all its excitement and joys. To quote C.S. Lewis in part, “God is the Creator of any pleasure in it’s healthy and satisfying form. He made the pleasures: the devil has never produced one. All Satan can do is encourage humans to take the pleasures which God has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden …”Some of our reticence concerning the topic of sexuality is prudent. It stems from a healthy desire to protect what God intended between a husband and wife. The relationship is, by design, so exclusive that we instinctively shield what goes on behind closed doors. Thus the “closed doors.” But there is another source of discomfort that is not healthy.
C.S. Lewis was right … since Satan cannot produce a single human pleasure, he has made it his business to corrupt and sully those given by the Creator. Our enemy has worked extremely hard and with sinister success to ruin human sexuality; to steal what God intended and give us fraudulent copies with diminishing returns. He has made such a wicked business of this pursuit, that many Christians feel shame at the mere mention of the topic. Even when enjoying a God-given pleasure in the God-sanctioned context of marriage … some Christians feel shame. They feel shame over enjoying a good thing that God intended to bind them together, body and soul. If any of those false feelings are in the mix of your discomfort with the topic of sex, trade them for a Biblical perspective.
Yesterday, our Cover 2 Cover Bible read-through brought us to the Song of Solomon. Although some of the language may not resonate with our modern romantic sensibilities, it’s hard to miss the passionate physical enjoyment the book’s two lovers find together. The Song of Solomon has many facets, but it is undeniably a celebration of intimacy in marriage. I’m thankful for its presence in God’s inspired Word. It helps me hold sacred and protect what Satan desires to steal from marriage. The picture with this article is of my wedding ring. The Hebrew inscription that it bears say … “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” Song of Solomon 6:3 The Hebrew word translated “beloved” denotes “A person dearly loved and cherished; preferred above all other and treated with partiality.” It can also be translated “lover.” There’s no shame in that. (See also Proverbs 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 7:4-5)
