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[updated: 7/9/21]

sex common olympicsIn honor of the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo… a year later in 2021… I want to share the TOP5 Things Sex has in common with the Summer Olympics.

But before you judge me, like I’m always connecting everything with sex, I wasn’t the one passing 450,000 condoms at the last Summer Olympics in Rio (the equivalent of 42 per person, by the way).

That would have been Brazil’s health ministry, at the direction of the International Olympic Committee. So clearly, I’m not the only one who sees the connection between the sex and Olympic sports. However…


I wrote this post hoping to encourage you to use self control instead of birth control.


So!

On your mark.

Get set.

Here are the TOP5 Things Sex has in common with the Summer Olympics!

#5: Gymnastics

Am I alone in believing no other competition in any Olympiad comes close to magnifying how fearfully and wonderfully God made the human body?

Iron cross on the rings? Back handspring on the balance beam? Tombstone Piledriver on the mat? (Actually, I think that last one may be a professional wrestling move.)

Seriously though! How do they do it? I can’t even stick a somersault.

Sex requires a bit of physical gymnastics as well. However…


Unlike gymnastics, sex was never meant to be performed for others to watch, enjoy, and judge.


Instead, a sexual relationship is so wonderful, so fantastic, yet so intimate, it is a perversion to observe it. And we know this when we think of watching our own parents go after it – What? Yuck! Get a room! – but somehow when it’s actors in a movie, we make excuses.

Indeed, I suggest this reality explains why Christian virgins can feel so dirty on their wedding night. Many fault the church’s condemnation of premarital sex for the difficulty they find in enjoying sex after marriage. But what if the source of their shame and frustration isn’t the church’s teaching, but that in spite of all that teaching, they exposed themselves to (and subsequently fantasized about) endless explicit imagery and ideas anyway.

#4: Boxers

In case you didn’t know, boxing is the fifth oldest Olympic sport.

Boxers are also a popular underwear option for men and sleepwear option for the ladies.

But keep your boxers on whenever you’re planning to “Olympics and chill.”

#3: Hurdles

Isn’t sprinting for 110 meters hard enough? Why you gotta add hurdles every nine meters?

Heck, why stop there? Why not top the hurdles with razor wire? And then light them on fire? Make those Tough Mudders look like elementary school recess.

Sex also has hurdles you have to jump over to get it. At the very least you probably want to get alone. That’s one hurdle. You might have to buy them a drink. Another hurdle. Or you might prefer to know the person first. Maybe you’d like to know them well, at least well enough to feel like you can trust them. More hurdles.

In God’s design, the only hurdle to a happy sex life is a life-long marriage commitment. In our culture of compulsory convenience, that’s no small hurdle. However…


In track and field, hurdles aren’t seen as unnecessary obstacles, but as challenges that make the prize more meaningful. What if God meant the marriage commitment to do the same thing for sex?


#2: Freestyle

The freestyle is just one of four swim strokes you’ll see in the Olympic pool, but…


Sex was always made to be enjoyed “freestyle.” Free of pressure, performance anxiety, shame, fear, or regret. This is what the marriage bed offers.


That’s what naked and unashamed is all about. 

But how can an act of such intimate vulnerability be enjoyed freely outside of a committed relationship of love, trust and innocence?

It can’t.

Of course sex can be enjoyed outside the marriage commitment (which explains why they’ll be passing out condoms at this year’s games), but it can’t be enjoyed freely outside the marriage commitment (which also explains the condoms).

Furthermore, how can you and your partner create your own freestyle of sexual expression, when one or both of you are obsessed with copying the sexual behaviors you’ve observed performers act out on camera or brag about in song.

Again, you can’t. And that’s why my wife and I had to spend the first ten or so years of our marriage unlearning the sexual propaganda we let our culture sell us.

Is that how you want to spend the first decade of your married life?

If not, then enjoy the Olympics, but watch what you watch when it comes to sexually arousing media that corrupts the private wonder of sexuality.

#1: Diving

I can’t even imagine making the climb to the 10M platform, much less walking to the edge and then, beginning with a handstand (something I can’t even do on the ground), executing a reverse 2½ somersault, followed by 2½ twists and the cha-cha slide before hitting the water.

But what if I did manage to mount the platform and walk to the edge, only to change my mind? Climbing back down would definitely be the right move for me, but diving board ladders are only meant to be climbed up.

And with that word picture we see why it feels so wrong (sometimes frustrating, sometimes embarrassing, and always awkward) to make out with someone up to a certain point and then back out.


Sex was made to be dived into.


The sexual experience was created by God to be one of…

Eager anticipation…

Leading to gradual arousal…

Leading to wild abandonment…

in

a

free

fall

of

intimate

pleasure

Which resolves in a blissful climax followed by a peaceful easy feeling of pure joy.

Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

It is! Sex is wonderful, but sex is also dangerous. And the risk inherent in such a vulnerable act of intimacy is why God made sexual intercourse for the lifetime covenant of marriage.

You simply shouldn’t take a flying leap from 33 feet unless you know the pool you’re jumping into is deep enough to keep you from breaking your neck. And you shouldn’t jump in the sack with someone unless you know your shared commitment is deep enough to keep you from breaking your heart.

Be wise! I urge you to wait to climb into bed with someone until you’re both ready to take the leap into marriage.

Want more help in understanding human sexuality and your sex drive in particular? Check out our Hot Topic page dedicated to understanding SEX!

Enjoyed the format of this TOP Things Sex has in Common with… post? There’s more!




DNA: It’s What’s For Dating

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Our LoveEd discipleship series, Beyond Sex & Salvation, will empower you to grow spiritually and date wisely, so you can marry well.

This discipleship series is NOT for couples, but for the wise individual who wants to prepare for their future marriage like a successful career: intentionally, intelligently and IN ADVANCE!

This discipleship series is NOT about dos and don’ts. It’s about learning the life lessons, mastering the life disciplines, and making the life decisions necessary for relational success.

[originally published; 8/4/16]