Desperate Joy

  In the last post I kicked off this idea of developing a comprehensive view of sexuality based on the Bible and Christian principles.  Voices in the church have largely been silent on the issues of sexuality, outside of "fornication is bad and abstinence is good!"  My goal is to speak into this area and help restore a Christ-centered, God-glorifying view of sexuality.  The Bible paints a glorious and beautiful vision of sexuality that transcends time and space, and is cosmic in its scope, but it does take some mining to dig those truths out of Scripture. At the foundation of our understanding of sexuality is what we believe about our bodies themselves.   Before we can talk about sexuality as an activity, we need a firm knowledge of our sex as defined in our bodies.   Every body has a given sex, male or female, as defined by their genitals, hormones, bone structure and DNA among other differences.   This is all by design. As we have seen often enou...

  One of the purposes I have in mind for this blog is to open up a conversation around sexual matters, especially as it pertains to sex addiction and the purpose and meaning of sexuality within a Christian framework.  What does healthy, Christ-honoring sexuality look like? This has been a journey and a struggle for me.   Sexuality has been a burden for me all of my life.   I became addicted to internet pornography straight away in adolescence and it has clung to me like a remora ever since.   In recent days I have found some relief, but from adolescence on, not a day has gone by where I did not engage in mortal battle with my sexuality. It is like I have been caught in a tug of war.   I have always had a burning passion to serve the Lord, but then my sexuality would pull me away.   For me sexuality has always been a source of confusion, pain, and suffering.   I do not believe that this is what God intended. The vast majority of preachers are...

  Over the previous few posts, we have been looking at this idea of personas, masks that we wear, or fig leaf disguises we put on to hide our shame from ourselves, God and those around us.  Last time we looked at the life of Saul of Tarsus who was converted and became the Apostle Paul.  When he was confronted by God on the Damascus road, his masks shattered, and God rebuilt him and made him into a new man, a better man.  A man that could be used for his service.  Through that process Paul stepped out of his persona as a self-righteous hypocrite into his true identity as a child of God, or as he often wrote in his letters, the servant of Jesus Christ.  Saul of Tarsus had to be crushed to dust before God could build up Paul the Apostle. There are echoes here of my own story.   I grew up in a solid, Christian home, with loving, nurturing parents, but in spite of all that I was wounded, and my soul was ruptured.   This led to me feeling inadequate...

  In the previous post we looked at the idea that we have damaged hearts and souls, and like Adam and Eve in the Garden we try to cover that damage with fig leaves, masks, and personas.   We put on disguises, like being perfectionists, workaholics, addicts, the clown, or the over-achiever to hide our authentic selves from God and those around us.   The Bible has many examples of people who had these personas built up around their true selves due to their own hard heartedness and Satan's deceptions.   One such dramatic example is Saul of Tarsus. Saul hated Christians.   He despised them, he believed they were an insult and an assault on the true worship of Jehovah and the Temple Worship of Judaism.   Saul was a strict rule keeper and was fastidious in his adherence to the Mosaic law.   When the Apostles started preaching about salvation through faith in Christ, and the grace of God being available to all, he couldn't stand for this.   His zeal fo...

  The Bible is truly the most amazing book on the planet.  One of the reasons the stories in the Bible have been so resilient throughout the ages is because they contain themes and ideas that touch on timeless truths that all of us feel and experience.  Nowhere in the Bible is this more apparent than in the first few chapters of Genesis. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, eating the forbidden fruit, something tragic, but interesting, happens.   They felt shame for the first time.   Genesis 3:7 says, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."   For the first time they knew that they were naked.   A few verses back we read that they were naked and unashamed (2:25), now they were naked and ashamed.   Their eyes were opened, and they knew.   They knew something had gone wrong, that they had done something wrong.   Their innocence was lost. Crit...

   In the beginning, God scattered the galaxies into their places like jewels on the vast, velvet carpet of space.   He spoke and the world appeared like a glittering marble in His hand.   He pinched the dust and the deer, antelope and the rabbit sprang forth.   He danced across the ocean tide, and it rejoiced so greatly that the dolphin and whale sprang from the depths to join Him. He spread His palm across the mountainside and the great forests sprouted.   He looked upon the vast cerulean of the sky and it seemed empty, so He sketched the birds and the clouds to scamper and play across its canvas. All this please the Lord quite well, but then He thought something more.   Something different and quite special.   He scooped up a handful of earth, looked at the fair countenance of His dear Son and said, "Let's make something in Your image." With a gentle smile He replied, "No, in Our image." "Yes, that is good." "But, Fath...

  We have been looking at four stepping stones we can take if we want to find our way to joy.  The first two we looked at last time were surrender and sanctification, in this post I want to look at service and silence. When I was a child in Sunday school I was taught an acronym for joy: Jesus, Others, Yourself.   If I want to find joy, I was told, I needed to put Jesus first, others second and myself last.   It is a simple, but profound truth.   Life is not meant to be about my self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction, and self-actualization, at least not as ends in and of themselves.   Life is about serving Jesus and serving others.   While I am busy serving others I find the fulfillment, satisfaction, and actualization I desire. Jesus acted this out in dramatic fashion in John 13, "3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God. 4. He riseth from supper and laid aside his garmen...