Chosen From the Beginning

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 NLT

I used to read that as a very strict rule that only the holiest of Christians followed. I used to give myself in hopes of convincing someone to stay. Unfortunately, this only led to heartbreak and a lack of peace. I started to no longer trust my judgment, so I knew something had to change. 

This shift didn’t happen overnight. It started as a suggestion from my pastor who told me and my ex that we were just playing house by living together. While marriage was our goal, it was like we were trying it out to see if we really wanted it or not. At first, I brushed this off. But when a relationship I thought was permanent ended, I started praying and listening to God. In my darkest moments, God was there with me. He was the fourth man in the fire with me, like the one who showed up in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And He started placing things on my heart that then grew over time.

He put it on my heart to start serving others more, and that led to me focusing less on myself and more on others. He also told me to trust Him in my dating life. This was when I started to read the above verse as wanted and cherished instead of a rule.

You see, God paid a high price (His one and only Son) for me, and my body is not mine, but it is God’s as He lives in me and gave me my life. For me, to have sex with someone is huge and leads to me feeling completely connected with that person. So to have sex outside of marriage will only lead to heartbreak and pain for me.

All this to say, abstinence is not an easy walk in the park. By myself, I would never be able to just white-knuckle it and be abstinent. Thankfully, God has given me the fruits of the Spirit, especially self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). There are days that I struggle and am tempted. I am human after all. But in the toughest moments, I get on my knees and pray for God’s strength and self-control. 

If you’re where I was, here’s what I’d want you to know: I learned through years of wanting to be chosen by someone that I had been chosen from the beginning by God.