Why abstinence? How can God give young people such strong desires, then expect them not to act on those desires? After all, these are immature kids—most young people are weak and soft and lack the character to abstain from anything.
Yet God places high expectations on us. God allows temptations that seem overwhelming (though they are not, see 1 Cor. 10:13), and He tells us to say NO. Is God crazy?
Change your perspective. Don’t consider kids or yourself as immature, weak, soft, and lacking in character. God is building you into a MATURE ADULT, who is STRONG, TOUGH, and filled with CHARACTER and INTEGRITY.
Think of it this way—parents do not “raise children.” Parents raise adults. That boy who is out of control will wake up tomorrow a MAN. God is preparing him for MANHOOD.
Perhaps the sex drive hits ten years before marriage. Does God ask young people to abstain for TEN YEARS? Yes! Why? Because abstinence in this area builds character that will help those future adults in many other areas. Abstinence is weight lifting for the soul. One day God will call you to a job—then He may be silent for ten years. Perhaps you will be tempted to quit for eight of those ten years. But you pray and God says nothing. So BY FAITH, you stick with what He said before and you hang in there. You are strong now, and you ABSTAIN from every job offer that tempts you away from the place God put you.
Such abstinence actually characterizes the lives of mature believers: you constantly see opportunities or “open doors,” but you pray and God is silent and you realize you must persevere where you are: Keep that job. Stay at that church. Mend that relationship. Work out that marriage. You must ABSTAIN from the temptation to quit.
When Hagar ran away from Sarai and complained to God, He said, “You must go back and submit to her mistreatment” Genesis 16:9. God told her to ABSTAIN, to stay and endure, to “bloom where you’re planted.” Is He saying the same to you?
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