I am not a prude (defined as 'a person of excessive modesty') but I am outraged by the torrent of sexuality that has swept over our culture like a tsunami wave. I am not sure that young adults in America even know the meaning of friendship or true beauty any longer. Many young men are convinced that the only way to relate to women is genitally. The entertainment industry has so sexualized the standard of 'beauty' for women that many constantly dress like prostitutes. In what I believe is one of the most tragic developments of our time, many of our young women (yes, even adolescent girls!) have come to believe that the only way to be valuable is to be sexual. Foul men stand ready to exploit this mistaken value system. Hugh Hefner, of Playboy fame, started the industry of exploitation 50 years ago. From his airbrushed pictures of naked women, the industry devolved to things like the coarse 'entertainment' produced by Jim Francis called - "Girls Gone Wild" - featuring drunk college girls in various states of nudity, and explicit pornography available on Main Street, Anytown, USA.
Even Christians have been overwhelmed by the tide! The majority of couples that come to me to be married are already living together and they have no sense that they are acting in an immoral way. Christian teens and young adults publish songs, photos, and poems on their MySpace of such explicitness that the material makes me blush! Christian men are consuming pornography at nearly the same rates as non-Believers. Nobody, it seems, knows the meaning of moral purity. The Bible calls us to a different standard. "Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world." (Ephesians 5:3-5, NLT)
This TFTD is not a call to return to Victorian prudery! I don't think that pretending sex does not exist is any kind of answer to immorality. Nor must all Christians aspire to celibacy; unwilling to be real, live, warm-blooded men and women who feel and experience sexual passion. What we must do is to return sex to the place of exclusivity that God gave to it. "Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex." (Hebrews 13:4, The Message) Christians must reclaim sex from the gutter. We need to affirm the spiritual aspect of human sexuality. Having sex must have more significance to us than having a hamburger. Both satisfy an appetite, but a meal is just that. Sex satisfies a physical need, but carries a much deeper meaning with it as well.
The physical union of sexual intercourse creates a spiritual bond. Consider what God says. "There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another." (1 Corinthians 6:16-18, The Message)
Believer, one of the ways that you and I must be remarkably different from our world is in the area of sexual purity. Our lives should be notable for the way we celebrate our sexuality - wholly and holy - in a God-honoring manner. We cannot allow ourselves to become scolds and nags, wagging our condemning finger at those who are duped by the lies of this sensual culture. We must not imply that sex is ugly or base or vile! That was the course chosen by others that helped to get this culture to its present state. Instead, we must speak of sex in terms that honor God's gift of maleness and femaleness. Christian men can and should be virile without needing to lust after every attractive woman they see. Christian women must recover true beauty, in body and spirit, without adopting a whorish appearance or a sluttish attitude
Today, ask the Lord to help His people to begin anew. Pray for a wholeness of mind and heart in terms of sexuality. If you've fallen into sinful impurity, commit yourself to a restoration - starting today.
Make this your prayer, for God's sake.
Psalm 101:1-6 (NIV)
1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.
Amen.
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