Saturday, June 27, 2009

Naked and Unashamed

Is this picture not precious?! We took it on our recent get-away. As I was reading this morning this innocent image came to mind.

I have mentioned that I am in the process of writing a book. Well, the chapter I am now attempting is on the topic of "sex"--which is what spurred my recent "book shout-out" for Holy Sex, by Terry Wier. He approaches sex in a refreshing, biblical way that is lacking from the majority of books--even Christian--that I have read on this often mysterious topic. He gets to the root of sexuality--God's holy design--and asks why sexual sin secretly pervades our churches. The answer? We as believers are often ignorant to the holiness and beauty of sex, as well as entangled in shame with its mention.

He says, "We (believers) of all people should enjoy the greatest sexual fulfillment. We should have the greatest confidence in speaking about sexual issues. The world should be coming to us for help with their sexual problems. Instead, Christians are turning to secular sources because their churches do not seem to have the answers to their sexual problems." (p. 189)

Do we truly want to know why the church looks the same--and in some cases even worse--than our culture when it comes to premarital sex, abortion rates, and sexual addictions? Because we have not come to understand God's design for our sexuality. Wier continues, "So the world calls us hypocrites (because of the vast number of sexual scandals in the church), saying, 'You do all the same things we do. We just don't feel any guilt or shame about it.'" (p. 189)

Hence my thoughts of this picture. When God created Adam and Eve, He says they were "naked...and...not ashamed." It was sin that brought shame to God's beautiful gift of sexuality. Even Christians, trying to teach rightly, tell their children "no, no, no...not until marriage" without any explanation as to the depths of spirituality involved in sex and without any expounding upon the beauty and holiness of God's design--probably because of the shame in which they are also entangled.

Enough is enough. I speak to too many women--including myself--who have lived their lives confused and ignorant to God's design. We as the church should be the ones experiencing the most freedom and joy in our marriages when it comes to sex. In a day where sexuality is splashed across every single grocery store checkout, we must as parents first be healed and brought to true understanding then teach our kids the truth about God's gift. Unless we want our little sons and daughters to one day end up a statistic of sexual perversion, something has to change!

Oh I pray that we as believers would seek the healing of God in this area, that we would come to understand God's holy, beautiful design, and that the freedom of Christ would spill over into this area often shrouded in dishonor. God is so very good!

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1 comment:

Beth said...

I'll give you an Amen! on that one.

 
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