the god of sex

Sex is everywhere we look.  Movies, television, internet, school, work, restaurants, football games, video games - sex is everywhere.  Our culture is saturated with it and we would be considered foolish to think that somehow we are sheltered from the society's take on sex.

Society has its own views on sex.  Sex has been taken from something that was created as a good and perfect gift between a husband and a wife, and twisted into what the Apostle Paul would call "sexual immorality."  A term that would encompass just about anything you can think when it comes to sex.

Like food, and so many other things, sex is a good gift from a gracious giver.  Not only does it have a purpose, but it also brings pleasure.  All good things, but...

"when good things become god things, that is a bad thing." - Mark Driscoll

From the beginning, God designed sex to bring two people together and make them one.  The Hebrew word used has a definition of "mingling of souls."  This act is to unite two people in a strong bond.  God designed this to occur within the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman.

One example from Scripture on how sex has become twisted occurs in 2 Samuel 13.  Amnon is one of the son's of King David.  His half sister Tamar was a beautiful young woman and Amnon lusted after her.  He made himself sick thinking about her.  She consumed his thoughts day and night.  He HAD to have her - and so Amnon and a buddy devise a plan to make it happen.

They play out the plan and it ends up with Tamar being raped by Amnon, Amnon saying that he despised Tamar to the point that "the hate he had for her was greater than the love with which he had loved her."  Amnon got what he wanted - and it left him feeling empty and unsatisfied.  It made him angry that this one thing he desired so much didn't fulfill him.

Amnon wasn't the only one feeling empty.

Tamar was left helpless, violated, mourning, shamed, and who knows what else.  Tamar isn't the last character is the story.  Tamar had a big brother, Absalom, who found out what occurred and exacted revenge on Amnon.

Worshipping idols leads to destruction.  The more intensely you chase after something, the less likely you are to catch it.  During the chase the pleasure you seek and may be receiving from the idol dies in the process so that you need more and more just to reach the same level.

Sounds a lot like addiction.

I would venture to guess that most people are looking for intimacy, pleasure, and acceptance when it comes to sex.  The downfall to that is occurs when sex is gone,  ,hen that person leaves or dies.  What are you left with?

Jesus knows us intimately.  He loves us beyond anything we could imagine.  He loved us to the point of giving His life so that we could truly live.  In Christ we are accepted by God.  We are loved.

Nothing in this world can do for us what Jesus has already done.  Let us not turn to things, but run to Him who makes us whole.