Let me share an example of what I mean. I took each of my three sons on a
father/son weekend to talk about sex when they were in the 6th grade
- the first year of Middle School. (I also took them in 9thand 12th grade.)
Ellen talked to our daughter.
On one of those 6th grade trips, my son said, "Dad, I
already know all about sex. You don't need to tell me
anything." My response? "You probably do but you need to
hear my perspective on it and especially God's perspective on it."
You see, sex was designed by God to be great ... in marriage. He designed
it for procreation and for pleasure. Sex was God's idea, not the
Devil's! It's not dirty in marriage. It's a gift from God.
The statistics are very compelling that parents still have the greatest
influence in the decisions that teens and young adults make about sex before
marriage. That is not a guarantee that they will live like who they are
in Christ in this area but it is still our God-given responsibility to talk
with them and guide them in this area.
The best thing we can do for our kids in teaching them about sex is to
challenge them to make some decisions before they ever start dating. If
not, they will most likely make the wrong decision later when they are on a
date. Here are some of those decisions.
Safe
sex for the Christian is no sex prior to marriage. See 1
Corinthians 7:1-5 Today, you have to be very specific about what you
mean by sex. A decision that will help a single person is to agree that
any area of the body below the neck is off limits while dating. An
exception, of course, might be holding hands. And in reality, most
people regardless of their age, cannot sit around and kiss very long without
being tempted to do more. Why? Because God designed passionate
kissing to be one of the first steps towards the beautiful act of sexual
intimacy in marriage. If a single is going to kiss at all while dating ,
they need to decide how much kissing they are going to involve themselves
in. If you have kids, I encourage you to share this with them whether
they are 13 or 30.
Don't advertise.
Make sure your girls know that they can dress in style with being immodest. For
example, a girl who shows cleavage is advertising. A girl who wears
shorts, skirts or dresses so that her butt cheek is showing or almost showing
is advertising. And some guy will be
tempted to take the merchandise. She needs to save all of that for her
husband in private after she is married.
Another thing kids need to know is that the Bible tells them to treat
the opposite sex as if they were their brother or sister. Read
these words to the single pastor, Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:2. "Reverently
honor an older woman as you would your mother, and the younger women as
sisters." That is another great decision for those who are dating to
make. In fact, if they treat the opposite sex as a brother or sister,
then a friendship may occur which one day might lead them to the one God has
for them to marry. Passionate Dating is definitely about safe sex when
you live like who you are in Christ!
Live
Free in Christ,
Live Free In Christ, Mark Maulding, President and Founder www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding
