URC Daily Devotion Monday 3rd May 2021

Exodus 20: 17

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Reflection

Sex. Sex. Sex. It’s still a taboo in many situations, yet at the same time it’s one of the most talked about subjects! Particularly amongst folk of my generation. In a world where women are sexualised on a regular basis, newspapers making millions from wardrobe malfunctions, short dresses, makeup-less celebrities, it’s no wonder that sexual desire exists. From an earlier and earlier age too.

As I write this devotion, I’ve just come across a new TV show called ‘Teen First Dates’. Which is the teenage version of the popular ‘First Dates’. You may well have your own opinion on ‘First Dates’ as a TV show. But the teen version appears to be an exact replica. Rather than, like most youth versions of TV shows, simplified and/or adapted. A first date is a first date, yes, but implying that teenagers must be dating during those years is not helpful. Children and young people are being brought up in a more sexualised world, I include myself in this upbringing.

How should we deal with this? Talking about it goes a long way to dealing with it. Hiding the issue as if it doesn’t exist will only exacerbate things. Perhaps if, from an earlier age, people were able to be open and honest, express their feelings? Then the feelings would not be locked up and turned into something worse, such as ‘coveting a neighbour’s wife’, literally or figuratively.

We need to break down the barriers put up around these subjects. It would help us all personally. But it would also have a positive effect on our outward image too. The Church is not anti-sex, in fact, sex is regularly mentioned in the Bible!  It’s time to talk about it ourselves.

Prayer

Lord,
life gives us an abundance of feelings,
positive, negative, and somewhere in between.
Help us not to keep them locked up,
but to talk, to each other, to you, and seek help where needed.
We thrive from sharing our lives and our good news with others.
Loving God
You give us the ability to love one another.
Help us to continue to do this, just as You love us.
Amen