Buyer Protection

Is it every woman's right to find a man, even one outside of marriage? No! Buyer beware. Is it every man's right to ignore biblical standards and opt for sex outside of marriage? No! Buyer beware.

A lady stops by our garage sale and she proudly reveals she is living with her boyfriend. They both met at a grief support group, having both lost their spouses. I offer my sympathies. She buys some of my gentle used clothes to wear to a church function I find out. Buyer beware. I ask this stranger about marriage. She says that the boyfriend is not ready. But she has sold her home and moved in with him! Someone is ready for marriage, but he is not. What is she buying in their collective grief? Perhaps more heart break. “Things start as hopes and end up as habits,” says Lillian Hellman.

Another Christian couple chooses sex before marriage because marriage just isn't convenient now. She is lonely and he doesn't want to be pushed. Buyer beware. She runs the risk of being used, abused, and left without recourse and with regret. She doesn't seem to care, although earlier she wanted marriage. How, pray tell, can that man become the spiritual leader he is meant to be if he can't obey Scripture? Why would he be Mr. Right for her?

The current philosophy seems to be people are basically good and there is no problem with sex outside of marriage for people who love each other. What could be wrong with love? they ask.

eBay sent me this message via e-mail:

After 15 years, we still believe in our founding philosophy: people are basically good. After all, how else could perfect strangers successfully trade with one another millions of times a day? This is what makes eBay so unique. But we also know things don't always go right. That's why we created eBay Buyer Protection. It's our way of saying, "We've got you covered."

The Bible is the Christian's buyer protection.

• Go and sin no more is what Christ told the woman at the well in John 4. He had faith to believe that she could live a moral lifestyle. She had the commitment to change also because she told everyone in town.
• Shun immorality, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6. Don't go that route.
• In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, we see that some "Christians" can receive the word with joy on their rocky ground, but then fall away. Perhaps they were never elect as the previous post indicates, and their immorality is just the proof.
• Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness we read in Matthew 6:33, and then all these things will be added to you.

Buyer beware. Often it is the woman who is lonely who can't wait for God's plan. The man isn't ready for a commitment and she compromises. Did that seed of the Word fall on fertile soil or rocky soil? The fruit appears for a time while it is convenient, but in the heat of passion or loneliness that fruit is gone. Are we talking Christians here? We are talking a couple who are not honoring God in a basic human relationship and we wonder where the fruit is. Buyer beware.

What will help the couple with no legal sanctions if one dies? The children from a previous marriage or their family will benefit financially and the grief of the remaining man/woman will go unacknowledged. Buyer beware.

I have nothing to say to those who are following Hollywood and coupling outside of marriage. I am talking to those who profess Christianity. The Bible tells us to judge not that we be not judged in Matthew 7:7, you say. Yes, one can take a favorite Scripture and make a case. But you have to take all of Scripture and need wisdom from counselors as suggested in Proverbs. Later in that same chapter in Matthew Christ points out that just because people claim to have a profession of faith, it may not be and to them He says I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers. Hollywood can have their immorality.

Christ told us that our Father in Heaven will give good things to those who ask Him in Matthew 7:11, but we dare not grab those good things ahead of His best plan for us. Buyer beware. Have self-respect that rises above loneliness, Christians. Do not buy into these lies. Repent, wait, and get into the Word and fellowship with believers. See How to Pray for a Future Husband.

Even eBay believes in sin and has a protection plan. Read the Bible's protection plan.