Lesson 82

How Do We Sort Out Physical Intimacy Amid Sexual Impurity?

Physical intimacy is a sensitive subject and it becomes more so when a couple goes through the experience of sexual impurity. The Scripture passage above sounds simple enough, but it gets complicated with such things as individual desires, appetites, expectations, manipulations, the busy home, and job schedules. The sensual nature of the world around us creates a culture of peer pressure to buy into its lies and empty promises.

If a couple seeks and finds God’s way, their marriage can enjoy the pleasures and benefits of physical intimacy as it was intended. Unfortunately sin, errors, worldly influences, and selfishness can enter the relationship and interrupt what God wants for sex within marriage. Yet God provides grace when the ideal is not met. Couples can recover from the brokenness of sin through healing, and their physical intimacy can be restored.

Rebecca found that not holding part of herself back helped both her and her husband in physical intimacy. “When I really trust my husband and am fully present not just with my body but my spirit is engaged in love-making, the Lord really blesses us. There can be a sweetness to physical intimacy that extends beyond the bedroom and into the relationship. One of the things that my husband has done that has helped me is to always tell me that I am beautiful when we are intimate. This has helped me overcome the lie I believed that he accessed pornography because I wasn’t beautiful enough for him.”