Embankments

I love rivers. I grew up in Northwestern Ontario where we had many clear rivers. I liked to canoe the rivers, fish in the rivers and I was baptised in a river. Rivers are great if they stay within their embankments.
In 1977 the Kaministiquia River in Thunder Bay flooded and went over its embankments. Homes were flooded, roads were washed out, and bridges were damaged. The river was wonderful when it stayed where it should but when it broke over its banks it became an enemy. The Red River in Manitoba is also known for its flooding sometimes covering many hectares of farm land.
Paul tells us that sexuality has its embankments. Within these embankments it is good but it becomes ugly and dangerous when it breaks out of these embankments.
The first embankment is commitment. How many couples who have decided to live together without marriage will use the argument that the piece of paper doesn't matter it is whether they love each other. However, marriage is more than self-fulfillment, it is a statement that says "I belong to you completely". Paul tells us that it is a picture of Christ and the church. When we fail to have commitment we are saying that it is about us and not about our spouse or about our God. Paul tells us that we cannot be physically one with another person without being personally one with them. The first embankment is commitment.
The second embankment is complement. I am using the word complement to mean complete. Man and woman are complements in that we are told that the two will become one flesh. The two parts are different. This is where homosexual marriages and relationship are wrong. Two men or two women are not complements but two halves that are the same. In order that sexuality is to remain beautiful it must stay within these embankments.