Many Christians struggle to know the will of God for their lives. What profession should I pursue? Should I get married? How will I know the “right” one? Where should I settle down? All of these considerations are natural to man. As believers, we can be confident that God has a plan for our lives. Yet much of God’s will for us is already recorded in the Scriptures and we pass by it.
One such testimony concerning God’s revealed will is found in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. He writes “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (I Thessalonians 4:3). There are three important considerations in this brief statement worthy of attention.
First, Paul indicates that what he is about to say is God’s will. He is not making a suggestion or sharing a recommended guideline for living. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he is proclaiming God’s determined purpose and plan for those who know Him as their heavenly Father. Our response is to obey. There are no other acceptable responses.
Second, it is God’s will that His children are sanctified. The word means to be set apart, especially in the context of holiness. In fact, later in this same passage and context, Paul declares “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (I Thessalonians 4:7). Peter confirms this expectation of God when he quotes from the Old Testament in his first epistle. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation [behavior]; because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:15-16).
Third, the specific outworking of sanctification in this context is that we should “abstain from fornication”. The Greek word translated fornication here is the word from which we get our English word pornography. The word used in this passage and elsewhere in the Scriptures embraces every kind of sexual sin – adultery, harlotry, homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy, pedophilia, and every other kind of sexual uncleanness. Our society has turned its head away from condemning these practices, but be assured God has not. We are told “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). God created marriage and its sexual intimacies. He will judge those who despise his command and pervert this gift.
Modern America is given over to sexual promiscuity. One would have to be willfully ignorant to think otherwise. Humor, advertising, clothing, entertainment, and just about every other arena of life has been touched to one degree or another by a growing appetite for sexual expression. We would do well to earnestly reflect on the will of God in this matter of fornication. Often, sin’s encroachment is subtle, barely noticeable, as it makes its way into our daily path. But once we have grown comfortable to its presence, it becomes bolder in claiming new areas in our lives. Even so, what God has commanded, he enables us to do. God help us to abstain from fornication.
From the Chaplain 