We know that to be true for young adults and students. So we want teenagers to hear this message. We want students to obey it by walking in sexual purity. “Save it for marriage” is the banner we wave. Even if you’ve “done it” before, God can forgive and restore. He is still calling you to “be holy just as He is holy” (1 Peter 1:15).
However, this truth is not only for teenagers. Sexual purity is just as much for the Gen Xers and the Baby Boomers as it is for Generation Z. Basically, it doesn’t matter if you’re 15 or 55, you’re called to walk in sexual purity.
It’s amazing how Christians seem to ignore this particular sin among our more aged brothers and sisters. Sadly, there has never been a shortage of parents or guardians who speak to my wife and I with broken hearts over their child’s promiscuity, while at the same time, having their own live-in boyfriend or girlfriend at home waiting for them.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” is often a statement shared by loving parents and grandparents to the senior who is walking out door with her prom date. Then they are the very same ones jumping on the Internet to plan a weekend getaway to Branson, sharing a hotel room with their middle-aged boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s as if our actions are really saying, “Don’t do anything I would do.”
We must do better for God’s sake. For our sake. For our kids and grandkids’ sake.
Against popular belief God doesn’t grant people a “sex outside of marriage pass card” when they turn 25, or 55 or 65. He doesn’t turn a blind eye to those who have gone through a divorce. Your sexual freedom within marriage does not carry over to relationships following a split. God takes this seriously. Sex is created for marriage, and there are no exceptions for the aged or the experienced.
No matter how old you are. No matter what your story is. The call for sexual purity still applies for you as these Bible verses about sexual purity illustrate. “You must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20) is still a command for you. God’s best for sex and marriage is still right for you. His serious disdain toward sexual immorality is still true for you. Yet His grace is still sufficient for you. That grace for you is not a license to sin but a liberty to walk in obedience to your great God.
Plus the young eyes of the next generation, your children and grandchildren, are watching you. May you, with a clear conscience, be able to tell them what the apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
This article about verses about sexual purity originally appeared here.
