For some reason this devotion didn’t get sent out to most of my groups. Therefore, I’m sending it again!
because of the temptation
to sexual immorality,
each man should have his own wife
and each woman her own husband.
1 Corinthians 7:2
“Sexual atheism.”
Have you heard of this new term?
I heard the term first from Kenny Luck at ChristianPost.com. He talks about his young colleagues’ frustration in dating young Christian women ... and their eagerness to shift so quickly from sharing a first date latte to sharing a bed.
Christian Mingle, the premier online Christian dating site, reveals that 63% of their members are open to having sex before marriage.
As a pastor, I hear all the time, “But I have needs” (and it’s usually in the context of defending the decisions they made that have made their life such a mess).
I want to ask people, “Who taught you to define sex as a ‘need’?”
Food is a need. Air is a need. You could even make a good case for shelter being a need. But sex is a desire — albeit a very, very powerful desire.
God knows this. He created those desires. And he gave us a safe place for their expression — “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”
Though sin can certainly complicate any set of relationships, marriage is generally the safest context for life. Statistically there’s more happiness, security, trust, and peace. In marriage, there is also — statistically — less abuse, betrayal, unwanted children, depression, anxiety, insecurity, child sexual abuse, etc.
God’s way is the best way. (And it’s the best revenge ... because statistically the most sexually satisfied people in America are married church ladies! In the context of trust and commitment, we can give ourselves fully to our beloved.)
God has a good plan to bless our lives with stability and satisfaction. And yet so many Christians, as Kenny Luck says, “at once believe in a wise, sovereign and loving God who created them and all things, [and yet] also believe simultaneously [that God] should not, cannot or will not inform their thinking or living sexually. ... There is disconnect between identity and activity. ... It is the ultimate oxymoron.”
As Luck says, “It reminds me of those famous red letters in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus says, ‘Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?’ (Luke 6:46, NIV).
Question: Are you a sexual atheist? What do you need to do to allow God to take control of this (or any other guarded part) of your life?
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who has needs …
... and it has nothing
to do with sexuality
... and everything to do
with needing God
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