"How to Destroy Your Marriage Before it Begins"

 In a helpful article entitled "How to Destroy Your Marriage Before it Begins," Garrett Kell, discusses how Satan seeks to "corrupt gospel-portraying" marriage by attacking couples through sexual sin before they are married. His whole article is worth the read, but here are a few thoughts that stood out to me:

Satan wants us to make a pattern of obeying our desires instead of God's direction.

God's ways are good, but Satan wants us to believe they aren't. This has been his plan from the first call to compromise in the garden (Gen. 3:1-6). His end goal is for us to develop a consistent pattern of resisting the Spirit and following our sinful desires once we get into marriage. He wants us to learn to resist service and to pursue selfishness....

...Love in marriage is shown by a thousand daily decisions to do what you don't want—whether doing the dishes or changing a diaper or watching a movie instead of a basketball game. If your relationship before marriage is characterized by giving into urges of immediate desire, you'll most certainly struggle when you encounter the nitty-gritty of married life. ....

Satan wants couples to weaken their trust in one another.

When we compromise sexually, we're showing the other person we're willing to use and abuse them to get what makes us happy. Every time we push the boundaries with our fiancée or lead her into sin we are communicating, though we don't mean to, "You can't trust me because I'm willing to use and disregard you to get what I want."

He ends by giving several good thoughts, one of which I will quote here:

Involve others every step of the way. Don't let your relationship remain unexamined by other godly Christians. Both of you should have a godly couple or group of faithful friends who hold you accountable. Invite tough questions and give honest answers. God uses transparency to give strength.

Perhaps you have already sinned in this area. Look to the gospel message Christian. The Christian life is one of continual repentance and trust in Christ. Repent of your sin, turn from it, and trust in Jesus' perfect life and payment for your sin as your only hope before God.  Where sin is repented of and Christ is clung to, grace abounds.