Tuesday, June 26, 2012
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One time Andy told me about the worst Christmas he ever had. Oh, he'd always had a hard time waiting for Christmas morning. I think most kids do. He felt that Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year just waiting. But there were a lot of long nights before then. And he was a little unsure of that Santa Claus business, and didn't quite have all that figured out.
So a few days before Christmas, he managed to discover the closet in which all of his presents were kept. Well, he got in there, saw them before they were wrapped, and saw everything he was getting. He felt so smart...briefly. He put them all back where he found them, closed the door, and then came Christmas morning. Well, Christmas - needless to say - was a bit of a drag that year. Everyone else is jumping up and down and going, "Hey, look at this!" and celebrating their surprises.
And there's Andy over there just moping through the motions trying to look like it's fun and look like it's a surprise. He said, "You know, Ron, I decided I'd never do that again." Something special could be ruined if you open it too early.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Open Your Gift Too Soon."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 13:4. It says this: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure." Now, this is a verse about a gift. It's a gift you don't want to open too soon. The gift is the gift of sexual love as it was meant to be by its Creator. And God says, "Do not open that gift until you are married and have made that lifetime commitment to each other."
Now, of course, that message is all through scripture. Proverbs 5:15 says in more figurative language, "Drink water from your own cistern and running water only from your own well." Okay, do not open until you are married. See, the excitement of married love is based on its specialness. It's not unlike my friend Andy and the excitement of those gifts. They were very special when you opened them at Christmas. But when he opened them too soon, they weren't special any more.
This gift God's given us, the ability to give sexual love, is the same thing. You're supposed to keep it special to express a lifetime commitment. Like Andy, if you open it before, you miss the thrill of opening it at the right time.
Oh, hey! There are tons of temptations to open it too soon. You say, "Well, there's someone I might not be able to keep in my life if I don't do this. I might lose them." I'm not sure they're worth keeping if that's the price they're asking for. You say, "Well, I've been single for a while, and you know, maybe I need to get it while I can, and have this relationship while I have this chance." Don't believe that lie. You say, "Well, I'm sure we'll get married some day." You'll be so sorry you rushed it, and so outside of the blessing of God!
You'll always wonder if that person will think the fence is important enough to keep them in, because see, it wasn't important enough to uh...keep them out was it? Sex before marriage, even a day before, costs you so much in guilt, resentment, loss of worth, loss of specialness, and loss of the blessing of God.
Someone is listening right now and you say, "Ron, I wish I'd heard this, or I wish I'd heeded it earlier." And there are memories, and there is guilt, and there are regrets. The good news is that I speak on behalf of a Jesus who said, "I will remember your sins no more." I come speaking to you from a Bible that says, "The blood of God's Son purifies us from all sin." Did you get that...made pure again? That's because all the things that you wish you hadn't done, that He wishes you hadn't done, He died to pay for on a cross. And then He came back to life again on Easter morning, so He can come into your life, forgive you, and give you that clean heart and new beginning that only He can.
If that's something you want, if you'd like to have that new beginning and to be clean inside, would you tell Jesus that? And go to our website. There you'll find a simple explanation of how to be sure you've been forgiven by God and you belong to Jesus. It's YoursForLife.net.
Whatever you've done until now, commit yourself to protect and restore the specialness of sex. And don't ruin it by opening it too soon.