Biblically, there are five ways God expresses his love for us. And these are the five ways that we are to express love to our spouse (and others). In this post we'll unpackage God's fifth expression of love.
5. Physical touch
When the children came to Jesus in Mark 10 the Bible records that "...he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them." When Jesus' disciples assumed Jesus was too important to bother with children, Jesus showed his love for the children with appropriate, loving touch.
Both my sister and brother in law are nurses at Bay State and were telling my wife how they now require mother and baby to have one hour of skin to skin time. They've come to realize how important physical touch is in promoting physical health, so it's now something they require.
Well, it's not just babies that need physical touch. Marriages need it too! Physical touch is a powerful vehicle for communicating marital love. Holding hands, kissing, snuggling and good ol’ fashioned sexual intercourse are all ways of communicating love to one’s spouse.
Yet sadly, Satan has really got us all mixed up on this point. Before we’re married he works overtime to get us in bed. After we’re married he works overtime to keep us out of bed. He doesn’t mind if we sleep in our pretty secretary’s (or co-worker’s) bed or our neighbor’s spouse’s bed, but he does everything in his power to keep us away from each other. Now there’s more to physical touch than just sex, but sex is certainly an important component of physical touch within a marriage relationship.
While not touching in marriage can be a sign of sickness, appropriate loving touches can bring healing.
This might sound unromantic, but if your sex life is suffering because you’re just leaving it up to chance - you may need to put a little reminder on your phone or calendar. This is too important to leave to chance. You probably schedule everything else in your life - why not schedule some time for physical touch? If we’re not intentional about sex, it oftentimes ends up getting squeezed out of our overly busy schedule. Don’t save it for the very last thing on your agenda for the day, you will almost always be “too tired”. Make it a priority. Move it too the top of your to do list, instead of at the bottom once everything else is done. The dinner dishes and the laundry can wait, but intimacy can’t.
5. Physical touch
When the children came to Jesus in Mark 10 the Bible records that "...he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them." When Jesus' disciples assumed Jesus was too important to bother with children, Jesus showed his love for the children with appropriate, loving touch.
Both my sister and brother in law are nurses at Bay State and were telling my wife how they now require mother and baby to have one hour of skin to skin time. They've come to realize how important physical touch is in promoting physical health, so it's now something they require.
Well, it's not just babies that need physical touch. Marriages need it too! Physical touch is a powerful vehicle for communicating marital love. Holding hands, kissing, snuggling and good ol’ fashioned sexual intercourse are all ways of communicating love to one’s spouse.
Yet sadly, Satan has really got us all mixed up on this point. Before we’re married he works overtime to get us in bed. After we’re married he works overtime to keep us out of bed. He doesn’t mind if we sleep in our pretty secretary’s (or co-worker’s) bed or our neighbor’s spouse’s bed, but he does everything in his power to keep us away from each other. Now there’s more to physical touch than just sex, but sex is certainly an important component of physical touch within a marriage relationship.
While not touching in marriage can be a sign of sickness, appropriate loving touches can bring healing.
- In Matthew 8:1-4 a man with leprosy came to Jesus. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Immediately the man was cleansed of his leprosy.
- In Matthew 8:14-15 Jesus came to Peter’s house and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
- In Matthew 9:27-29 two blind men came to Jesus. Jesus touched their eyes and they were healed.
This might sound unromantic, but if your sex life is suffering because you’re just leaving it up to chance - you may need to put a little reminder on your phone or calendar. This is too important to leave to chance. You probably schedule everything else in your life - why not schedule some time for physical touch? If we’re not intentional about sex, it oftentimes ends up getting squeezed out of our overly busy schedule. Don’t save it for the very last thing on your agenda for the day, you will almost always be “too tired”. Make it a priority. Move it too the top of your to do list, instead of at the bottom once everything else is done. The dinner dishes and the laundry can wait, but intimacy can’t.
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