Intimacy

Matthew 19:4-6
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” NIV

1 Corinthians7:2-6
2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. NIV

We human beings need and desire physical intimacy. From birth through childhood, being touched and held is important to one’s wellbeing. As we get older, the desire for the opposite sex grows until we meet that someone with whom we want to spend the rest of our life. That special intimacy is so strongly desired. Probably millions of love songs have been written about love between a man and a woman. The Bible has a lot to say about intimacy, especially the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon.
Sexual intimacy is so misused and abused but God’s plan for it in the married relationship of a man and woman has special ramifications that isn’t felt or experienced outside of the marriage relationship. Yet, the needed intimacy in marriage can falter when a man ignores his wife’s needs or a woman ignores her husband’s needs. When this happens, as the old song goes, they may begin “looking for love in all the wrong places.” Sin and heart ache is the result. Intimacy will change some as a couple ages, but intimacy remains very important for one’s own good and for one’s spouse. Intimacy is meant to be a blessing. Don’t dismiss your obligation to each other.