Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well…
Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth.
--Proverbs 5:15-18
I once heard a grandfather who was talking about his grandson. He said, “You know, my grandson has more temptations before school starts at 8:30 in the morning than I had out Friday night looking for trouble!” And you know, he’s exactly right. In fact, one young lady told her father recently, “When I see how casual sex is treated by my classmates, there are times when I wonder, ‘What am I waiting for?’”
So why should you maintain the purity and the standards of righteousness that the Bible gives? The world today is full of so many opportunities for men and women to go astray when it comes to sexual purity. So why not just give in?
Well, here’s your answer: because God wants what’s best for you. I can’t tell you the heartbreak I’ve seen and the emotional damage I’ve witnessed as a result of illicit sexual relationships. God doesn’t want you to experience that, so He’s protected you by giving you guidelines to obey.
God created His rules for sex with your joy in mind. Never forget that. So whether your young and single or have been married for years, follow God’s perfect plan for sex and you’ll experience His very best for you and your spouse!
GOD’S PLAN FOR SEX WAS CREATED WITH YOUR JOY IN MIND. SO FOLLOW HIS PLAN AND YOU’LL EXPERIENCE HIS VERY BEST FOR YOU!
Presumption and the Will of God
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.”
James 4:13–16
Many people live as if God did not exist. When they make their plans for the future, they are only concerned with what they desire and how they intend to achieve their goals. The truth is that none of us knows the future. We can and should make wise plans to the best of our ability, but we do not control our lives. Even the moment at which they end could come unexpectedly. None of us is promised tomorrow. James gives us this reminder, not to make us dread the future, but to urge us to trust and submit to God’s will rather than rejoicing in our own plans and presumptions.
Submitting to God’s will is not passive—it still requires us to do what He says. But it is freeing, because it replaces our opinions with His. Hudson Taylor said, “I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient.” The warning of James was not to the world, but to believers. We are just as prone to self-reliance, and we must resist it.
Today's Growth Principle:
Only when we recognize that God is in control and yield to His will can we live as we should.
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