Sexual Intimacy

425 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 2Sa 3:6,7, “ Now it was so, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul. 7 And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ishbosheth said to Abner, "Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?" ( 2 Sam 3:6,7) Multiple wives, heathen wives, concubines, harems. Isn't it amazing how quickly God's children turn from Him and adopt the ways of the world? Using women in this fashion was the world's way of demonstrating power over others. Some things never change do they? Observe the dating scene as it is today, and has almost always been. For the most part men look at women as an object to be conquered, and conquest always speaks of a demonstration of power. How many women have been victimized by this power play? How many have been used in this manner and then tossed aside, used, abused, scarred? For the Christian man, this should not be so! God has given us this wonderful gift of intimacy to be enjoyed this side of heaven, and He has laid down parameters for it's use within the bounds of marriage. This gift is never to be used to wield strength or power over another, on the contrary, the intimacy of marriage as designed by God is to be a denying of self and a complete giving of oneself to the other. It's about mutual giving....not taking. 1Co 7:3,4 says, “ Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” Did you catch that? This rendering of affection and surrendering of authority, remove power from the equation, and put intimacy in it's rightful place. Father, I pray that followers of Jesus Christ, will resist the world and it's ways, and seek to put intimacy in the high and rightful place that You have reserved for it in marriage.