As a mom of boys, I pray that young women do not flaunt their bodies around him! As a mom of one daughter, I pray that she will value her purity more than she values being lusted over in a swimsuit. My heart aches for the children who are growing up in this fallen world.
(Disclaimer: If you are a young woman under the age of 18, please have your parents read and approve this message and the video included before you continue. Moms and Dads, please preview the rest and share this with your daughters if you find it beneficial to them.)
Dear Young Woman,
As I sit down to write tonight, I find myself wanting to just share my heart with you instead. I do hope you will read on and hear the words I write as well as the words I quote from others (including men) and from the Holy Bible.
It is my heart to tell you that you are BEAUTIFUL. You are fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139:14) The Lord created your body to be caressed and to be seen. His one and only boundary in that is that you save your body for your husband.
Let me write that again with some emphasis…
His boundary is that YOU save your body for your husband.
This is a choice for you to make. You see, when you marry, your body becomes his. (1 Corinthians 7:4) But until you marry, it is your responsibility to present yourself holy and blameless, without any stain or wrinkle or any other blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)
His boundary is that you save your BODY for your husband.
Until you are married, you are to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. (1 Corinthians 7:34) And your body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. (1 Cor. 6:13) Know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own. You have been bought with a price, so glorify God with your body! (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
His boundary is that you save your body for your HUSBAND.
Not a man who you would like the attention of. Not a man you are dating. Not even a man you are engaged to.
“But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:8-10)
“So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." (Ephesians 5:28-31)
His boundary is that you save your body for YOUR husband.
Not your best friend’s husband. Not my husband. Not any other man other than your husband.
“Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.” (1 Cor. 7:1-3)
So what does it mean to “save your body” for him?
It doesn’t just mean abstaining from sex. No–it is FAR more than that.
You are not a billboard, and you are not for sale. PLEASE do not present yourself as such!
It means committing your body to the Lord in every way until you are a wife! Young women, in Titus 2:4-5, we are called to be chaste. It means sexually pure. That purity is between you and your heavenly Father as the bride of Christ!
But, young women, did you also know that the way you present your bodies also affects the eternity of others around you? Ladies, men all over the world are struggling. They live in a world where sex is widely made available to them.
But for the believing man, it is not enough that he abstain from sex.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’;
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her
has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28.
So you see, as he simply LOOKS at you, he is stumbling. And, ladies, we are not be a stumbling block to them! We are not to tempt them! The Word says we are their sisters–they are our brothers! (1 Timothy 5:2)
But every day, and every where, and even in church…temptation still exists and men are fighting a losing battle because of how we, women, present ourselves. In this manner, some are ignorantly leading men to their eternal death.
Free for all?
Ladies, whether you are at church, at home, in school, or even at the beach…are you saving your body for your husband? Or are you putting it out there for the taking? And yes, to have it be visible to another man is to have it out there for the taking.
In this video, I was STRUCK by what one man said:
“Sometimes, when I see a girl provocatively dressed, I'll say to myself, ‘She
probably
doesn’t even know that a hundred and one guys are going to
devour her in their minds
today’. But then again…maybe she does.”
The voice on the video belongs to one man, but the message comes from many of our brothers in Christ. Let us show love to them by protecting them from having to turn away from us.
Dad, what do you think?
I URGE you–if you are not yet married, sit down with your father and ask him to help you to dress modestly. Ask him to help you make wise decisions in covering yourself. (If you are not able to get your father’s help, ask your mother to go with you to meet with a father-figure to help you in this.)
Our culture is not a good gauge for dressing modestly. Just because it is accepted in the world, does not mean it is modest.
And again, it does not matter where you are…even at the beach.
Here comes the bride!
Ladies…if you are getting married…pay attention to what kind of wedding gown you choose. As you walk down the aisle, you should be dressed in a gown that continues to save your body only for your husband–not revealing it for the men in attendance. (This goes for choosing bridesmaid dresses too. If you are the bride, please choose for your bridesmaids a gown that does not cause her to feel uncomfortable presenting herself in front of other men. And if you are the bridesmaid, don’t hesitate to stand up to the bride if you feel uncomfortable the gown she has chosen.)
What a glorious day it will be when you are able to present your body–your WHOLE body–to your husband! And what a gift that will be to him to know that both before and after the wedding, that your “mystery” is only his to know!
Ladies, what do YOU think?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject as we near "beach season"! Please comment below and we can chat about it!
