Cafeteria Christianity: Sexuality — Tuesday
1 Corinthians 6:13
You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” … But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. (NLT)
“Sex is just physical. It’s a normal appetite. It’s a biological need. It’s a release. Do what feels good.”
This line of thinking is common, and at surface level, it seems to make sense. At times, it can feel like the desires God is telling us to resist are so “natural,” so “healthy,” and so “reasonable,”—so much so, that it feels unnatural to resist them.
So the answer to that restlessness may seem to be sexual sin, but like all of sin’s pleasures, it is only temporary and fleeting. And this lie is especially deceptive because, like all powerful lies, it is based on a truth—the truth that sex itself is normal and healthy.
Let me illustrate…
The iPhone is a pretty amazing invention. Such an improvement over the rotary dial phone (Google it, kids), the home landline, even the flip phone. It allows me to surf the web, text my friends, send emails, play games… oh, and it even makes old-fashioned phone calls. Incredible!
Likewise, the doorstop is a simple but also amazing invention. Osburn Dorsey is credited for inventing the doorstop in December of 1878. Without “O” Dorsey, doors would be slamming all over the place.
Now, if I wanted to, I could creatively use my iPhone to prop my door and ignore Mr. Dorsey’s invention. The iPhone does all of that other helpful stuff—why not add “stopping a door” to the list of benefits? It would certainly work. But here’s the thing: My phone was not intended to be a doorstop.
It would get damaged, worn out, and eventually, the functions that make it so awesome would be destroyed. If I used my iPhone as a doorstop, you’d call me crazy because it was created for a much greater purpose.
We often treat sex like an iPhone doorstop.
Sex was created for marriage and is meant to be shared by a husband and a wife. Inside of marriage, it’s a great thing. When sex happens outside of marriage—like using my iPhone as a doorstop—sex gets damaged and loses what it was designed for.
We may wish that it was, but sex is never just a physical act. How do I know this? Because sex and love were created by God. We should look to Him, even when—maybe especially when—strong desires say otherwise.
Tuesday’s Reflection
What you feed grows. What you starve dies. Are you nurturing a marriage to one person, or feeding lust for multiple people? Are you doing what feels right, or are you trusting God? Are you disciplining your heart and training your eyes, or are you exposing them to sexual content and wondering why your desires are out of whack?
