Dear Single Girl,
I see you over there—watching Redeeming Love as you curl up in a ball on your couch with a bag of popcorn in one hand and a can of La Croix in the other. Last month, you promised yourself that you wouldn’t watch this movie because it’s a bit risqué.
But that was before your boyfriend broke up with you. Before your best friend told you that she’s engaged. Before you realized that you’re 21 and have never been kissed.
[Or insert other scenario that has caused a wave of indescribable loneliness to overtake you.]
All you wanted was a little pick-me-up in the love department.
It’s Just Not the Same
You could’ve gone out with your friends tonight or cleaned your bedroom or gone for a walk. You could’ve chatted with your parents or shopped for a new dress or even gone to bed early. But you desperately wanted to feel loved. By someone. By anyone.
And nobody loves Angel like Michael Hosea does.
When Michael touches Angel, you can almost feel him touching you. When Michael holds Angel, it almost feels like you’re being held. When Michael kisses Angel, you can almost feel his lips on yours.
Almost.
See, deep down, you’re not really watching Redeeming Love because it’s a (very loosely) biblically based story with redemptive elements that apply to your Christian faith. You’re watching it because you’re lonely. You’re hungry for love, intimacy, and sex. Your longing for those things feels like a fire in your soul and you’re not sure how much longer you can wait for the real thing.
So you settle for a movie. With sex in it. Close enough, right?
I’d argue it’s nowhere close to a decent substitute.
This Game We Play
Single Girl, please don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not saying that you’re evil for watching Redeeming Love or any other movie with sexual content. But I am saying that you do have (very natural and normal) sexual desires as a single woman that will, in God’s time and in His way, be fulfilled.
But we, as fallen single girls, have such difficulty waiting for these desires to be fulfilled in God’s time and in His way. We’re impatient, weary, and certainly lonely. And to “cope,” we turn on the TV and watch sexy movies and shows. We listen to sexy songs. We read sexy books.
We want to believe that somehow consuming sexual content will “take care of” our deep longing for sex. Yet it doesn’t. Because it wasn’t meant to, Single Girl.
Then and Only Then
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:21-25 NASB1995)
There’s only one thing that will satisfy our deepest sexual longings: sex within marriage. To the right person. At the right time. In accordance with God’s will.
Single Girl, I can’t wait for that day to come. I’m sure you feel the same way. But until it does, I hope you remind yourself of this truth over and over again: no matter how much sexual content you consume, your desires for love, intimacy, and sex won’t go away; so rely on the One who knows you and understands your desires better than anyone else. Even Michael Hosea.
Tizzie's Tidbits of Truth 