Ok, that's funny but on a more serious note, over the years, Valentine's Day, a.k.a " love day has become commercialized and promoted as a day where people simply HAVE to spend on tokens that acknowledge, inspire, ignite or reinstitute love. And not just any kind of love, Eros love. From chocolate flowers and wedding rings to appealing lingerie and intimacy playthings, people in our western culture are encouraged to engage in intimate connections with significant others. Just watch all the commercials the week before Valentine's! Now, in a culture where chastity before marriage and fidelity after marriage were hailed as the expected norm, this would not only NOT be an issue, but could even a blessed reminder.
As we know however, we no longer live in such a society. We live in one that chides young girls as prudes if they eschew fornication and belittles young men as masculinely incompetent if they would decide against ultimately sexualizing their female peers in one form or the other. We live in a society that encourages the breaking of the marital covenant peradventure there is sexual un-fulfillment and considers it exhilarating when the sin-nature in a relationship is tempted by the prospect of an affair.
"Waiting" in this era, is difficult; and its road is ridden with daunting & repetitive temptations. "Waiting" in today's world is unpopular and almost deemed unnecessary outside religious communities. And even within religious communities, scandalous discoveries are often made where the most heinous of sexual activities are exposed. Formerly hidden under the guise of superior moral self-control, we often find the same lusts which have plagued all human beings since time immemorial.
Nevertheless, God, who formed and fashioned sexuality in the first place, instituted the covenant of marriage and restricted copulation to its confines, still hasn't changed. He is still the same yesterday, today and forever. His standards and laws, which some mistake only for suggestions, remain immovable.
And for those who would not kick against the goads and oppose their Creator, "waiting" patiently for their spouse is still the requirement. From the young woman whose reproductive organs begin somatically blooming for all to see, to the young man whose hormones begin stimulating the development of certain procreative characteristics and corporeal drives, God still expects continence of the urges which may arise out of our fallen nature.
For the woman whose husband perhaps has become unattractive even in behavior and isn't presently an appealing wooer, to the man with a wife inconsiderate of and unresponsive to his justifiable concupiscence, God still requires fidelity.
That doesn't mean there's no struggle.
It certainly doesn't connote ease.
Neither does it imply God expects an accomplishment of said abstinence from lasciviousness without His Spirit to enable. Because as we read in His Word, His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. God, doesn't make a standard, implement it, and then punish us for not upholding it like some malevolent divine being who enjoys terrorizing inadequate people.
Rather, He is our ever-present help in time of need wanting to empower us by His Spirit to keep the very laws He's given for our own preservation and blessing.
All that being said, as Valentine's Day draws nigh again this year, allow me to be an overt reminder:
Be faithful.
Be Godly.
Exhibit self-control.
Don't compromise.
Maintain your purity.
Let your bed be pure.
Listen to the Spirit of God, not your flesh.
Yes, it is appealing.
Of course it is tantalizing!
If it wasn't desperately desirable and duplicitously seductive, it wouldn't be a worthy opponent to derail your destiny.
But don't give in.
Unmarried youth, don't sell your virginity cheaply in the hidden corners of a dark room for a red rose or a dozen chocolates. Because that is everything less than a honeymoon after a public acknowledgement of your worth by someone who values not only what is under your clothing but inside the one it covers.
Married folks, ...don't acquiesce to that solicitation by the attractive and perfectly intuitive co-worker, close acquaintance, or old friend who is ever eager to attend to your now dejected emotions.
As enthralling as their advances may be in lieu of the pitifully offensive, attitude-ridden communications of your spouse who has left your legitimate desires forlorn, refuse them. Walk away.
Keep your promises even if the other person in your home doesn't see the prodigious effort you just made to deny yourself of that ravishing proposition.
God saw it. God sees it all. And God rewards.