The Enemy Tells Us Illicit Sex Is More fun. It Isn't.
This Week’s Quick Hits:
This Week’s Quote:
Willie Nelson was born on April 29, 1933 during the Great Depression in Abbott, Texas and was raised by his grandparents. While still in high school, he sang and played guitar in The Texans, a band formed by his sister's husband, Bud Fletcher. Willie is widely recognized as an American icon and one of my all time favorites. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. In 1915 he won the Gershwin Prize, the lifetime award of the Library of Congress. He was included by Rolling Stone on its 100 Greatest Singers and 100 Greatest Guitarists lists.
Willie has so many great quotes. Here are three of my favorites:
Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.
Be gentle with your words - you can't take them back.
If you really want to get along with somebody, let them be themselves.
Let’s Look at 2000s Trivia Today:
Window XP was released in which year?
Which 2000 film gave thrice-nominated Aussie star Russell Crowe his first Best Actor Oscar?
Avatar is one of the highest grossing films of the 21st century. Who directed it?
In 2006, an album released in 1990 was still the top selling rap album of all-time. Who was it by?
In 2006, an album released in 1990 was still the top selling rap album of all-time. Who was it by?
Did You Know?
Did you know the official bird of Redondo Beach, California, is the Goodyear Blimp?
In 1983, the coastal city made the Goodyear Blimp their official city bird in anticipation of the 1984 summer Olympics. They even presented a plaque to a team from Goodyear Airship Operations to help celebrate the decision!
Your Thought Life and Your Marriage
Awesome Marriage This Week:
AM Podcast: Healthy Self / Healthy Marriage: Emotional / Spiritual Health Ep. 521
Spiritual and emotional health are really hard to separate - our emotional health or lack thereof impacts our spiritual health. If we aren’t in tune with our own heart, it will be really hard to let God go to work in our heart. How do we do this? Don’t miss this week’s podcast!
AM YouTube Channel: Creative Ways to Get Quality Time With Your Spouse
Deeper conversations seem to scare most men but learning great communication with your spouse is something she desires. Finding your touch points can help you make this connection.
AM YouVersion Plan: Three Questions For Wives
In this plan Awesome Marriage’s Content Director Lindsay Few asks you three important questions about being a wife and shares three practical ways to be an awesome one.
Dr. Kim’s Insights:
The Enemy Tells Us Illicit Sex Is More fun. It Isn't.
As I take time off from writing during the month of August, I want to share some of my favorite Insights and Blogs from the past 12 years. Enjoy!
“Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers. Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose — don’t ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted! Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore? for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?” Proverbs 5:17-20 MSG
King Solomon uses a fountain in this passage and in the book Song of Solomon when he refers to a woman’s sexuality. The first part of this passage paints a picture of sex in marriage. As a husband to Nancy, our sexual relationship is designed to be exclusive between the two of us. I am her warrior. I am there to protect her from harm and from others. It’s a role that I cherish. King Solomon takes a no holds barred approach as he counsels men to enjoy our own wife’s beauty. She is as lovely as an angel and as beautiful as a rose, and to delight in our own wife is a life-long gift that we should never take for granted.
Most scholars feel Solomon wrote this passage when he was middle aged. He wrote Song of Solomon as a young man, and that is reflected in his descriptions of pursuing his future wife and then embracing their sexual relationship in marriage. Here in Proverbs, Solomon seems to be passing on some of the wisdom he has gained over the years. It’s a 50-word textbook on sex in marriage. Solomon probably had more opportunities to talk to, learn from and understand women than any man who ever lived: Over the course of his life he had 300 wives and 900 concubines. That is a lot of women! Yet, in this passage, he shares his dream for one wife to be cherished for a lifetime.
The last part of this verse affirms the reality that men can make stupid, impulsive decisions sexually that train Solomon’s wise counsel. Apparently, men have been trading the enduring intimacies of marriage for illicit sex for thousands of years. Which raises the question I ask every time I hear about a man having an affair. Why? Why would anyone trade sex as God designed it for sex the enemy throws in front of us? I think it's because we believe the lies of the enemy who tells us that this illicit sex will be more fun, more fufilling, more exciting and any of the myriad of “more” lies that he throws at us. The bottom line is that it isn't. No one is or ever has been designed to fulfill your sexual desires and needs like your wife. God designed her perfectly for you. Period.
So what do we do with this verse? First we all have to admit that we have vulnerabilities. If we don’t admit that, we let our guard down and we become a target with a flashing neon light on it. Second, we take any sexual option but our wife off the table forever! Finally, we write these 50 words from King Solomon on our hearts, and ask God’s help to live it out every day. Not only will you avoid the train wreck but you will be flying high with the angel God gave to you in marriage.
Next Steps:
How does Proverbs 5:17-20 apply to your life?
What are your vulnerabilities?
What will you do to protect your marriage?
2000’2 Trivia Answers
2001
Gladiator
James Csameron
M.C. Hammer
Blondie