In 2012 the famous R & B band Maroon 5 had a single that reached #2 in the top 100 Billboard song chart. That same single was the world’s fifth best selling single in 2012, with 9.5 copies sold. That single was the song “Payphone.” Within the lyrics, it lays out a love story that ends in a broken heart. The singer proclaims, “I gave you my love to borrow, but you just gave it away.” The feelings of brokenness and hurt that follow are apparent in the song. Today’s fleeting and anonymous relationships, often arranged through digital platforms, can deceive people into believing that a physical, sexual relationship pursued for mutual pleasure can be completely satisfying. Another deception is revealed in the lyrics quoted above. The singer gave another his love to “borrow” and felt hurt because his lover “gave it away.” That is exactly the vulnerability one can put themselves in when engaging in sexual activity without commitment to something greater than themselves. The singer gave his love to another to “borrow” and so that act was not a committed act but a casual expectation that respect and love would be reciprocal; but love was not reciprocated. That love was given away, presumably to another. When one engages “in casual sex,” it is, in reality, an activity that denigrates each member of the uncommitted union. It denies the deeper self love expected by God for oneself (1 Tim 4:14). And if we truly love ourselves, we will love others freely, with eternal satisfaction. Ultimately, this illuminates the eternal value and inner fulfillment of sexual activity within the context of committed unions traditionally called marriage.
Brokenness in Uncommitted Unions
