Why keep your virginity?

When you ask yourself about why you should keep your virginity, I suppose the same old reasons that pop up into my head also appear in yours i.e. you should keep your virginity to prevent unwanted pregnancies or you should keep your virginity to avoid STDs or you should keep your virginity because if your parents found out they would get mad at you. Sound familiar?

However, I think it’s worth pointing out that there is a wrong tune to this type of reasoning. I find it radically superficial when a Christian only worries about STDs, babies and infuriated parents, etc. In such a scenario, the concern isn’t so much the sin of sleeping about outside of marriage but the consequences of doing so. What kind of twisted logic is that? Allow me to illustrate.

Imagine for a second that you are married. Your spouse asks you: “Why are you so faithful to me?” And you reply, “Well, honey, I’m faithful to you because I don’t want to contract sexual diseases, have unplanned babies or see you go crazy.” What on earth would your partner think? Would not such words feel like a slap on the face and leave him (or her) feeling like a heap of undesirable dirt? Is not the real motive of faithfulness love to your spouse? Should you not rather have answered, “I am faithful to you, my love, because I desire you with everything there is within me.” When you love someone, you won’t cheat on him (or her). Such an idea doesn’t even enter your mind. I mean, even unbelievers know that!

The same rule applies to God. Some people don’t sin against God for fear of being found out. Others don’t sin because they’re afraid of the consequences. But the real reason for not sinning is love to God. Christian ethics is based on love. Anything else is cheap legalism and back-binding religiosity. True saints obey God because they love to obey God; not because they have to. It’s a delight; not just a duty. That’s the reason they keep their virginity so jealousy and passionately. They want to. They desire to. They rejoice in doing so. They are consecrated and faithful soldiers- not lame dweebs or weaklings. It takes guts- real guts- to stand up for one’s convictions. Dweebs and weaklings go with the flow.

Fiery love to God is the root motive of everything we are called to do as Jesus-followers. Therefore I don’t buy into all these contemporary church programs that aim at fearing young folk away from jumping into bed with the first piece of meat on offer by presenting scary statistics, surveys and percentages. What young people desperately need is passion for Christ and zeal for holiness in the depths of their being. That is what will steer them away from ungodliness. That is exactly how Paul reasoned with the Thessalonians. He told them that God’s will was the sanctification of their body. Their sexual lives could no longer be like those of the pagans around them (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). Notice that the apostle didn’t give them a lecture about STDs and babies and mad parents. Paul knew that folk who love God will keep their bodies sanctified for the glory of God.

So why should you keep your virginity? Answer: because you love God. It’s that simple. Every other reason is secondary and totally unworthy of the God of love who granted you your virginity to begin with. Honour Him. Love Him. Serve Him. And may He give you guts. Real guts. God-glorifying guts.