God created sex for the marriage union so that a man and his wife could express their love for each other, enjoy one another, and procreate. And the Bible says that after He created this union, He said that it was good (see Genesis 1 and 2).

Well, God sees sex outside of marriage as not good, because it is sin, and sin will kill you. If you as a single are having sex now - if you have a sex life - then you are living in sin.

God wants you to experience sex according to His plan in which true love can be expressed and true joy can be realized.

"Flee fornication (sex outside of marriage). Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body" (1 Cor. 6:18).

Flee fornication. That means when you see it coming, run! When you know that someone is attempting to approach you, run.

Do not even try to stay around that situation and attempt to say no. Just run! That is the foolproof way to stay out of fornication.

The second half of this verse says, "...he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." In other words, he who commits fornication causes harm to his body.

Sexual sins can cause sexual diseases, such as venereal disease. Sexual sins cause your body to be vulnerable and allow the enemy to successfully inflict you with sickness.

Let's read that verse in the Amplified Bible:

SHUN IMMORALITY AND ALL SEXUAL LOOSENESS [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
(1 Cor. 6:18 AMP)

There is another issue that goes along this line of thinking as well. Many single Christians like to say, "I don't fornicate; I don't have sex. I do other stuff, but as long as I don't go all the way, it's fine."

But verse 18 in the Amplified Bible says to "shun immorality and all sexual looseness."

You don't have to "go all the way" to be impure. Fornication is any sexual sin. That includes masturbation, having "dry sex" (sex with your clothes on), heavy petting, and the like. It is all sin.

It doesn't matter if it is a seemingly "big sin" or "little sin," the reality is that sin is sin, and it all has the same result: death (Rom. 6:23).

Now you might say, "Those things don't really go on among Christians." I'm here to tell you that they do. I grew up in the church. I knew what was going on then, and I know what, unfortunately, still goes on now.

"Well," someone might insist, "we didn't go all the way, so we didn't sin." But, as I said, the Word says to shun immorality and all sexual looseness. If you're wondering if what you're doing is sexual looseness, then it probably is.

Source: God's Plan for the Single Saint by Keith A. Butler, II
Excerpt permission granted by Word Of Faith Publishing