Daily Devotional for Monday February 24, 2003

Is Kissing Okay?

(Song of Solomon 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4:7)

Is kissing OK? Never a day goes by that I don't get dozens of emails asking that simple question. While the majority of those emails are from young adults, the answer applies to people of all ages. Kissing is OK only when it is your husband or wife that you are kissing. PERIOD! Oh boy, I can already see the eyes rolling back. I already know that a 14yo girl is typing as fast as she can to tell me that I am crazy. I know somewhere an 18yo young man is ready to send me an email to tell me how out of touch I am. I also know that there will be tons of emails asking me what chapter and verse in the Bible says "thou shalt not kiss unless you are married". First, I am not crazy. Second, I am very "in touch". Last, there is NO SUCH VERSE in the Bible.

However, the Bible is VERY CLEAR about the issue of being pure and avoiding sexual sins. God's plan for intimacy between a man and woman is in the bonds of marriage. PERIOD. That means NO SEX. Fornication is clearly defined over and over in the Bible as a sin and means ANY sexual act between people that are not married. Jesus actually set the standard in this area when He said that if a man even lusts after a woman that is not his wife, he has committed the sin of adultery. Lust is a sin. So to even lust after someone that is not your spouse, is clearly a sin.

So what is so wrong about two people who are not married kissing? First, it is a very intimate act. Again, that type of intimacy God designed for those who are married. Second, kissing is like the fuse on a stick of dynamite. If you are not married and you know that sex is out of the question until you are, on top of that, lusting after someone that is not your spouse is called a sin by Jesus, all kissing does is open the door that can lead to sexual activity, and clearly opens the door to lust.

The fact is, GOD LOVES YOU. Some will read this today and think God doesn't want me to have any fun. Quite the opposite. Everything God teaches is to INSURE that you have the most abundant life possible. As I say so often, if we do it God's way it works, if we do it our way it doesn't. God's way brings blessings, and our way brings consequences. Those who follow God's way in the area of romance and save themselves for that one special person God intends you to spend the rest of your life with, know how special intimacy with your spouse can be. Those who have not followed God's plan in this area of your life realize that something God created to be so special can be very unfulfilling. It is like a hungry man who does it his way by stopping at McDonalds, instead of doing it God's way and enjoying a 5-course feast.

I love you and care about you so much. I really pray today that this message makes you think twice about something most people take for granted. You see how disgusting satan is? He is the great perverter. He takes kissing, something special that God created for a man and wife to share, and has cheapened it to become something most people do without even thinking twice. I can only encourage you today to save your kisses for the person that God brings into your life to share this journey with as your husband or wife.

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller