Has anyone else learned how important it is to read those itchy little tags inside your clothes before you try to wash them? Mmm-hmmm. New red shirts can turn the rest of your laundry pink. "Dry clean only" dresses can come out looking ridiculous if you wash them with your load of blue jeans. Instructions can be very important.
Who makes the rules on the little tags, I wonder? What a crazy job! I'm sure those individuals have to be experts on the types of fabric that are used to make each article of clothing.
Looking at the tag before you wash a new outfit is kind of like reading the little piece of plastic that sticks out of plants at a garden store. Who knew that some plants need to be in the shade and also require 3.75 drops of water every 4 hours? (Slight exaggeration.) I'm sure many plants have died because girls like me have thought "Ooh! Cute plant!" and didn't read the instructions on the little plastic thing sticking out of the dirt. Even worse, sometimes we just pick the pretty flowers right out of the flowerbed because we want to keep them with us. We want them now. Then, of course, the plant dies.
You know what else that's like? We, you and I, were made a very specific way. In some ways we're very delicate, and our Maker is an expert (of course!) on the way that we must be handled….the way our lives must be lived. If we ignore His instructions (like washing clothes the wrong way, or killing a pour little succulent plant because you forget to water it), only bad things can happen. Life becomes what our Maker never intended it to be. Brokenness and darkness and destruction come.
God (such a trustworthy, good, generous God!) has given instructions for our lives that are there to protect us (like keeping your puppy in a fence, because there's a pit bull next door!) and to show us how to best live….how to beautifully live.
One of the instructions He has provided has to do with our sexuality. He has designed us, and designed our sexuality, to work a very specific way. His very good plan is for sex to take place ONLY between one man and one woman who are committed to each other forever in marriage. Misusing sex (like sex outside of marriage, or homosexuality) is like killing a beautiful plant because you yank it out of the ground instead of leaving it where it was meant to grow and thrive. Misusing sex is like ruining that adorable new dress before you ever get to wear it, because you didn't bother to read that water makes the fabric melt! Yikes! Disobeying God's careful instructions about sex (that it is to be between one man and one woman who have said "yes" to forever!) is like showing up at the beach and drinking glass after glass of salt water. Salt water is great to splash around in, but it's poisonous if you use it the wrong way…..poisonous if you misuse it.
Just a glance at the magazines in the checkout line, or 10 seconds of the evening news, and you realize that many, many people haven't read the instructions that our Maker, the Expert on human beings, has given about the use of our sexuality. Celebrities make it look glamorous to sleep with someone who's never promised them "forever"... who's never promised to love them no matter what...who's never decided, "I value you enough to tell myself 'no'." And even those who say "I do" don't seem to really get it, because it's not long before they give up on "forever." Other beautiful young stars decide to ignore the instructions of our Maker by misusing sex in another way…by choosing homosexuality. Our culture celebrates, and makes a trend out of, cheapening and misusing something that was designed to be beautiful….special….powerful….protected. We are all so broken, we human beings, because we have ignored what our Maker has said. And the sad thing is, many people will never know how amazing sexuality could be, how it was designed to be, because they never bothered to read the instructions.
Magazine covers and movie theatres are filled with people who have chosen to wash their "dry clean only" dress with their dirty socks. They've chosen to pick the flower out of the pot because it looks so pretty, never realizing that it will soon whither and die in their hands. They have decided that the owner who put the fence around them was mean or stupid, and have chosen to dig out from under the fence and scamper towards the pit bull.
So let me challenge you, ladies: follow the instructions of our Maker. Trust that He knows, much better than we do, how we can best live. Believe that this very complex thing called "sexuality" is delicate, and can be ruined if we use it the wrong way. In fact, the misuse of it is poison to us. Choose to show kindness and grace to those who have ignored the instructions. They are not our enemies! Because they have ignored the instructions, they will experience pain and disappointment. Gently encourage them to trust the Maker, and to follow His instructions, too. And PRAY. Sometimes the urge to yank the flower out of the pot is strong! Sometimes we feel impatient, and want to toss our delicate silk dress in the load with our messy paint clothes. Ask our Maker to help you to trust Him, to help you to follow His instructions carefully, to help you to live beautifully.
The One who made you, ladies, is an unbelievably skillful weaver! He has carefully, lovingly designed the intricate details and elaborate stitching of your heart, body, and soul. Show Him love and respect by being careful and gentle with His masterpiece.
His masterpiece is you.
