ODJ: made new

August 14, 2013 

READ: Song of Songs 8:6-7 

Love is as strong as death (v.6).

She embodies beauty, both inside and out. But she also carries the burden of deep shame due to the actions of a selfish man. Far from harmless, his hands not only touched her, but they robbed her of security and honour. Perhaps he saw it as a game—simply sacrificing her innocence on the altar of a sex-saturated culture. But to her, it resulted in a painful, lifelong wound of the heart and mind.
As much as God delights in giving gifts to His people, the powers of darkness thrill in depleting hope, destroying peace and devastating hearts (John 10:10). Few weapons are as pervasive as the chaos they create in the perversion of sexual intimacy. Single or married, young or old, male or female, the fallout from those affected has been extensive.

A restorative picture of God’s design for sexual intimacy, the Song of Songs strips away our pretenses about love as we discover the power of God’s passion for us. He became for us the very Love that was as strong as death (Song of Songs 8:6), a Love willing to be crucified (John 3:16).

Caring little about our shame, and encouraging us to live without sexual restraint, the powers of darkness want us to live in sexual brokenness. Few, if any of us, will escape this world unscathed in some way or another God, however, was not unaware.

Like the lover who reminds his beloved that the barren winter has passed, He calls us from our place of shame and desolation. He makes all things new (Isaiah 43:19). No sin is too great, no shame too weighty, no lie from the enemy too powerful. Only one question remains: will we love Him in return? (Song of Songs 6:3; 1 John 4:10). —Regina Franklin

Luke 15:1-10 ‹

MORE
Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and consider why sexual sin is devastating to our love relationship with God.  
NEXT
How have your experiences in life shaped your understanding of sex? What is God’s view of it, and how will you live it out?