CHASTITY

I love Joe.
It's not lust, nor juvenile affection, nor is it unexplored adoration. It is love. When I pray about him, for him, or to give thanks to God that he is in my life I can feel the love that Heavenly Father has for him. Loving Joe, and feeling his love is never without an unveiled sense that he is the adored son of a Heavenly Father, and therefore cherished in Heaven. Though bridled with our faults and our failings, I can FEEL God's influence, parenthood, and desire for him when I express my heart to him. Yes, I love Joe. And, my love is bigger than I can care for on my own.

Because of that--I need GOD! I know that without His help, guidance, rules and blessings I cannot hold my love eternally, or even temporally. How can we be expected to gratify, elevate and honor one of God's children without His divine help? Surely, I cannot see a way!

And in desiring to honor all that I know can be made good in the image and spirit of the Father, I have given in to my desire to study and understand chastity, marriage, and the plan God has for us in our relationships. I have spent a few hours scouring the scriptures. Corinthians, Ephesians, Timothy, and countless other places have I read. This is where I am:

Everything about a godly husband-wife marriage should "speak concerning Christ and the church." We should be picturing in our marriages and commitments the holy union between God's Son and His daughter, worthy of the adoration, promise and chastity we would assume to give our Heavenly Father if it were for Him directly. Never would we imagine we could trick, or deceive or commit adultery against our God and be justified. Why should not the sons and daughters of the same God deserve any different?

Men should love their wives as Christ loved the church, giving themselves for them and presenting them to themselves only. Then husbands should nourish and cherish their wives, as the Lord [does] the church. And these principles apply as much to women as to men. If a wife truly viewed her husband as if he were "THE BODY OF THE CHURCH" himself, how would she act? How faithful and responsive would she be? If a husband truly regarded His wife as Jesus does the church, how patient, faithful, loving, exclusive, nourishing and giving would he be?

Paul, too, adds to this image when he says:We are not our own! God bought us at an incredibly high cost, the blood of our Master, and thus He commands us to "glorify God in your body and in your spirit," both of which are His! Surely, then, what we DO with that body matters not only to our companions and spouses, but to God Himself, whom we cannot hope to defile! When we commit sins—even in our minds—we have first become unfaithful to God and therefore When we break the seventh commandment, we show infidelity to God! Yes, it shows infidelity to the wronged spouse, but it all begins with unfaithfulness to God who has created all that we act with (and should be acting FOR).

There are things that I believe most clearly identify our religious position to friends and relatives. You cannot hide it from your neighbors if you are keeping the Sabbath (not for very long). And if you make friends with somebody, and you go out to a restaurant, and you are careful about what you eat or drink—without saying it, you reveal something about yourself. Do you think that the fact that you are tithing is not being revealed to your friends and relatives (especially your relatives)? Jesus says, "If you are going to deny Me, I'm going to deny you. If you deny Me before men, I'm going to deny you [before the Father]." I have to believe that acting in accordance with an understanding of how, and why we have bodies, also positions ourselves well with our lovers and our children. In fact, I am beginning to wonder if how we treat our bodies and thoughts in relation to our spouses/companions is not one of THE most important ways we identify ourselves religiously? I am thinking of Matthew 25:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Though speaking of charity, I dare to see the comparison in our relationships, and how we treat our lovers--our chastity in our hearts, our bodies, and our spirits the charity we offer our lovers. How could I cheat on GOD? How could I put anyone or anything before Him? So, whatever I do for Joe in chastity, I have to know I have done first for my Father in Heaven. I pray to use God's commandments and desires of me to the benefit of the man I love--that God may bless me for my fidelity to HIM and his commandments, and therefore bless Joe, whom I cannot hope to love the way he deserves with God's blessings.

A man would be honored by a woman's faithful attendance to His Heavenly Father, I pray. And, by giving all to the Father, show by her effort her willingness to give all unto him in their relationship. This life did not begin in the flesh, and cannot be fulfilled by it. Finding it's source as a couple is God's gateway to bless all our loves, while on earth or in Heaven.

Now, the real work begins.