Tues, Oct. 22
... More lonely than before
So, I had an odd dream about
her and
her today. It involved sitting around talking, and then going to Peter's. Strange. But yet somehow humorous. I have odd dreams occasionally, but I can't say that I've ever dreamed about fellow d*landers before. Well, I guess there's a first for everything, isn't there? :o)
I was impressed tonight. Shawn talked about sex at Nexus... it was good. Real. One of the best church talks about sex that I've ever heard. He didn't talk about how sex outside of marriage is bad--we've all heard that--or about how good it is after marriage--we've heard that too, and it doesn't help right now. He talked about redemption, instead, and about how God can redeem the most broken lives and relationships.
One of the things that I was most impressed about was the fact that he said, right out, that in a lot of ways, the church has a bigger sexual problem than society in general. The stats are about the same--there's not a lot of difference between Christians and non-Christians when it comes to sex. The sad part, though, is that we're so much more closed about it. Not only is there just as much of a sexual problem in the church, there's more guilt, secrets, lies, shame, and covering up. No one talks about that in church... no one acknowledges the problem, and especially not the fact that it's a bigger problem than outside the church. I'm glad someone finally spoke up.
The other thing he said that really stuck out to me was when he was talking about the verse in 1 Corinthians that says that sexual sin is "sin against your body," more than any other sin is. The body can heal from anything else--gluttony? Exercise and discipline. Alcoholism? Abstinence and self-control. The body will heal itself. But the effects of sexual sin aren't so easily remedied. There are physical, mental, and emotional scars that sometimes never heal, no matter how much time passes. There's always forgiveness, of course, but that doesn't mean the consequences aren't more severe than some other sins.
It's the kind of wound that seems to be constantly gaping open, no matter what happens or how long it's been. There's always something to make it sting fresh again, even if it's just for a few minutes. Yeah, forgiveness is a salve, but there's always that bittersweet aftertaste that's not quite figured into the initial equation.
God honored the master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.
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."... Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. (1 Corinthians 6:14-20, The Message)
infinite || abyss
posted at 11:35 p.m.
