Proverbs 5:18 (ESV)

[18] Let your fountain be blessed,

and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

[19] a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated always in her love.

[20] Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman

and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

[21] For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,

and he ponders all his paths.

Our culture tells us that “The heart wants what the heart wants.” That is the title of a Pop song from 2014 which reflects the moral and ethical standards of our day. It suggests that we cannot control what our heart wants. We are captive to our emotions over which we have no control. Solomon says that is not true. Jesus says that is not true. The gospel and the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers us so that we no longer have to be enslaved to our passions. “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us (Tit 3:3-5). He saved us not only from the penalty of sin, but from it’s power as well.

Our world is continually attempting to entice us. Television and the cinema bombard us with the message that “The heart wants what the heart wants.” Online ads and unsolicited social media invitations tempt the reader to indulge private fantasies. We are told that an unfulfilling marriage should be abandoned for one for which the heart yearns. But Solomon warns his sons that they can choose to find delight and even intoxication in their spouse.

As believers it is time that we stop listening to the invitations and lies of the world. It is time that we stop believing that we have no control over our emotions and that “the heart wants what the heart wants.” It is time that we recognize that the flesh, through which these lies and solicitations come, is dead and buried. We are alive with Christ. We can be so much more. It is time that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, stop allowing our passions to control us. It is time that we begin to believe the power of God in our lives, and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells and empowers us. It is time that we begin to choose to love and find our sexual and emotional intoxication in the one to whom we are married. The only other option is a snare concerning which Solomon says, “In the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol” (Prov 5:4-5).