Imagine a world where believers lived with such purity, and loved with such authenticity, that the world would literally see sexual immorality, affairs, perversion, and pornography for what it really is — second-rate, self-worship sex.
Now, imagine if the light of your life would be so bright that the people around you would unconsciously feel and say: “I don’t know what you have, and I don’t know how you live the way you do, but I want what you’ve got.”
Do you believe this is possible? I do!
Here’s how it can happen:
It begins with a revolutionary way of thinking about human sexuality.In our sex-saturated world, believers need to start thinking about sex as sacred and serious.
Sex is sacred.
This means sex is not common; it’s not casual.
In the Old Testament, when Adam had a sexual union with his wife, Eve, the Hebrew word for sex was, “to know.” It reflects the idea that sex is rooted in relationship, love, connection, and God’s blessing.
Sex as sacred means there’s a mystery about it. It’s about the heart and about the relationship, not just the body. This is the opposite of merely “hooking up.”
Sex as sacred is when you and another person, inside the boundary of God’s marriage union, open the Holy of Holies of your lives to one another. Then God brings the union of your mind, body, spirit, and soul together, under His blessing.
Sex is serious.
Many Christians say, “I love God, I believe the Bible, I pray” but then they also say, “My girlfriend/boyfriend and I are living together. What’s the problem?”
We don’t fathom just how serious sex is to God.
Read what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:15, 18-20:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
The moment you trusted Christ, the Spirit of God entered in and you were sealed with the Spirit, and deposited with spiritual gifts. You were saved and adopted into God’s family. Your body belongs to Him.
Therefore, your body – including your sexuality — is to be a living sacrifice of worship to Him.
Sex always comes back to the issue of worship. But we don’t understand this because most of us are programmed to view sex casually, as a game, or as a way to sell stuff like beer or clothing.
But what if, instead of living like the rest of the world, we lived revolutionary lives?
What if we stepped up and said, “Wait a second! What I’ve heard and what I think about sex isn’t true. It’s not about selling stuff. It’s not just physical. Sex is sacred and it is serious.”
For more information on this topic, take a look at Chip’s series Love, Sex and Lasting Relationships, as well as God’s Boundaries for Abundant Living, and Transformed: The Miracle of Life Change.
Written By
Chip Ingram
Founder & Teaching Pastor, Living on the Edge
Chip Ingram is the CEO and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. A pastor for over thirty years, Chip has a unique ability to communicate truth and challenge people to live out their faith. He is the author of many books, including The Real God, Culture Shock and The Real Heaven. Chip and his wife, Theresa, have four grown children and twelve grandchildren and live in California.
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