I'm Worth Waiting For!

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The text below was taken from Scepter Institute's brochure I'm Worth Waiting For! Printed brochures may be purchased in quantities of 100, see our Products page for more information.

I'm Worth Waiting For!

More and more teens and singles are making the smart choice in waiting for sex until marriage. There are lots of good reasons why you should too!

Sex is worth waiting for because you are worth waiting for

My Aunt Amy used to make homemade bread. Sometimes I would stop by her house and watch. She would carefully measure the ingredients including flour, water, yeast, and a little sugar and place them all in her large mixing bowl. Then she would turn on the mixer and let it combine the ingredients and knead the dough. After it had been on for what seemed an eternity, she would take the dough out and allow it to rise. Later on she would punch the dough down and allow it to rise again. Eventually she would put it in the oven and bake it. I still remember the yummy taste of that bread covered with butter and jelly. It was one of the most pleasant times of my childhood.

Carefully put together the ingredients of your life

As a teen or a single person you are putting together the ingredients of your life. There is school, perhaps a job, and those relationships with others including members of the opposite sex. While I probably could have taken a smidgen of the dough and eaten it before it was baked, I'm sure it would not have been nearly as enjoyable as waiting until the bread had risen and was baked. The same is true with sex. It is possible for you to engage in sex with someone before you are married. It may even be enjoyable for the moment. But in the long term it is not satisfying. It is not a good ingredient for building your life. You see, sex, designed to be the ultimate expression of love and commitment inside a monogamous marriage relationship, is nothing more than another ingredient to a full life that must be combined with others to work properly.

Of course, sex outside of marriage in today's world has its own set of problems, including sexually transmitted diseases. According to one recent study, a new case of sexually transmitted disease occurs in our country every 13 seconds. Some of them will not kill you, such as herpes, gonorrhea, and syphilis. They may cause discomfort and can perhaps leave you unable to have children or cause you aggravation and pain. Others, like HIV /AIDS are incurable and can kill you. In fact, teens and singles make up a group that is most heavily hit by this devastating disease.

The important thing to remember is that I am not saying that you are never to have sex. That would be unrealistic. God made sex as the means by which mankind continues. Used in the proper context, (marriage) it is a gift from Him, designed for the pleasure of men and women and the creation of new human beings. Outside of that context, it can involve a lot of problems, including diseases.

Join the smart crowd

Singles and teens all across the country and around the world are saying, "God is worth pleasing; sex is worth waiting for; I am worth waiting for." That's not a bad thought. Many times teens experiment with sex when what they are really looking for is love. The best place to find love is in a long-term commitment to a marriage relationship. And that means commitment on the part of both people entering that relationship to view each other as the "one and only" when it comes to sex.

It is much, much better to arrive at your wedding night with your virginity intact! It is much better to come to that time in your life knowing that you have not given yourself to any other person. It is much better to not have to deal with the specters of disease and death because of something you may have done years ago. (HIV symptoms may take a decade to appear.)

You are a unique creation of God. He has given you your features and abilities. He desires that you honor and obey Him by abstaining from sex until marriage. This is not because He doesn't want you to have fun. Not at all. God's plan is designed to achieve your long-term happiness and success as a member of a family.

But it starts with YOU. You must believe that YOU are a unique person of intrinsic worth. You must believe that YOU are worth waiting for.

Carefully put together the ingredients of your life. Will you pledge before God this day that you will wait until marriage to have sex? If you will, please make the following pledge.

Pledge for girls —
"Throughout my youth, I will save myself for the one God has chosen for me so that I might be able to bring to my husband, on our wedding day, my total womanhood, given to none other but reserved in sacred trust for him alone . . . that I might feel worthy and unashamed to accept the gift of his virgin purity, not unjustly and unequally receiving from him that which I cannot offer in return."

Pledge for guys —
"Throughout my youth, I will save myself for the one God has chosen for me so that I might be able to bring to my bride, on our wedding day, my total manhood, given to none other but reserved in sacred trust for her alone . . . that I might feel worthy and unashamed to accept the gift of her virgin purity, not unjustly and unequally receiving from her that which I cannot offer in return."

Pledge for parents —
"Throughout our lives, we will help our child save himself or herself for the one God has chosen, so that he or she might be able to bring to their wedding day, themselves, given to none other, but reserved in sacred trust for their mate, that they might be able to accept the gift of virgin purity and receive the same in turn from their mate." If you will do this, bow your head before God and ask Him to help you as you say, "I will."

Maybe you've already messed up

For those who have already given up their virginity, there is forgiveness in Christ. Ask Him for forgiveness. Then take this step by pledging to be abstinent until the day you are married according to biblical standards. We call this "secondary virginity."