Chastity

SONG OF SOLOMON 8:8-14

Key Verse:

"We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar" (Song of Solomon 8:8,9).

True believers are called upon to conduct themselves in utmost purity. The standard for all Christians is that not even a hint of immorality should be mentioned among them, worse still, practicing it (Ephesians 5:1-3). The young women should be chaste and enter their marriage beds as chaste virgins.As the woman in our text remembers her girlhood home, she thought of what her brothers said about her when she was very young. They didn't think she was matured for marriage then. The metaphor of the wall and the door has to do with the girl's chastity. If she was a door, a woman of easy virtue, then she would not be fit to be a bride in Israel, but if she kept herself pure, behind a wall, as it were, then she's suitable for marriage. She entered her marriage as a pure virgin after she developed physically and was admired by her husband. The subject of sanctity before marriage is very important. In Israel, it was an abomination and shameful for one's daughter not to be found a virgin by her husband on her first night of marriage. If the tokens of her virginity are not found, she could be stoned to death as punishment for her defiled status. Today, the story is different as chastity has been thrown into the winds. In this age of girlfriends and boyfriends, dating and relationships, most ladies are defiled before coming to their matrimonial homes. If that was restricted to the world, it could be bearable, but alas, this menace is gradually getting into the church! As believers, we must present our bodies a living sacrifice, a home that Christ can dwell in.

Thought for the day: Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Bible Reading in one Year: EZEKIEL 39 - 42