Friday 17th April 2020 Devotion
Scripture:- 1 Corinthians 7:1-20
Topic:- 10 Things You Should About Sex [2]
Text:- 1 Corinthians 7:2
5. God is at the center of your sexual world:
Our problem with sex doesn’t begin with lust, with bad choices, or with sexual misbehavior. Our problem with sex begins when we forget that God must be at the center of this part of our lives as he must be with any other.
When you have no greater motivation in sex than your own satisfaction, you are already in sexual trouble, even if you don’t know it yet. How have you tended to put yourself in the center of your world of sexuality?
Whether or not you functionally recognize it, at the epicenter of your sexual world exists a God of awesome power, glory, and grace. Sex in its rightful place in your heart and life always begins by recognizing that He is at the center.
6. Sex is deeply spiritual:
Sex is not an a-religious thing. Sex is deeply spiritual. Your relationship to your own sexuality and the sexuality of others always reveals your heart. Your sexual life is always an expression of what you truly worship. Sex is deeply religious.
In sex you are either self-consciously submitting to God or setting yourself up as God. In other words, sex is never simply a horizontal thing. Sex always connects you to the God who created your body, gave you eyes to see and a heart that desires, and tells you how you are to steward this aspect of your personhood.
7. Sexual sin starts with your heart:
Here’s where the words of Christ drive us: our struggle with sexual sin is not first a struggle with the environment in which we live or with the people that we live near. Our struggle with sexual sin reveals the dark and needy condition of our hearts. We are our biggest problem.
When it comes to sexual sin, the greatest sexual danger to any human being anywhere lives inside him, not outside. Isolation, changes of location and relationship, and management of behavior never work because they don’t target the place where the problem exists—the heart.
8. Pleasure is God-glorifying:
God’s creative intention was to bring glory to Himself by the pleasures He created. Each pleasurable thing was perfectly created and designed to reflect and point to the greater glory of the One who created it. These things were designed to be pleasure inducing but also for a deeply spiritual purpose.
They were meant to remind you of Him. They were meant to amaze you not just with their existence but with the wisdom, power, and glory of the One who made them.
They were put on earth to be one of God’s means of getting your attention and capturing your heart. The pleasure of sex is meant to remind me of the glory of my intimate union with Christ, which only grace could produce.
9. The pleasure of sex is no substitute for God’s grace:
It’s right to celebrate the goodness of God in giving you sweet pleasures to enjoy, and you should never feel guilty enjoying them as long as you do it within his boundaries and for His glory.
It’s wonderful to celebrate the tasty pleasures of food, the stunning beauty of a fine piece of art, the sweet intimacy of sex, or the sound drama of a well-written piece of music. But as you’re celebrating pleasure, don’t forget to celebrate grace.
God’s grace has the power to protect you from asking of pleasure what you should not ask. God’s grace gives you the power to say no to the seductive call of pleasure when it is vital to say no.
God’s grace offers you forgiveness when you have failed to do both these things. And God’s grace ushers you into the presence of the One who alone can give you the lasting satisfaction and joy that your heart seeks.
So as you’re celebrating the physical pleasures of the created world, take time to celebrate the eternal pleasures of redemption.
10. Sex is intended to point us to God himself:
Since God created both you and sex, it is impossible to properly understand sex and participate in it appropriately if you are practically ignoring God and His existence. By means of creation you are His, and your sex life is His.
Sex that recognizes God’s existence becomes the beautiful, intimate, relational act of worship that it was intended to be. In the midst of all its physical delights, it does not forget God.
It remembers that everything enlivened and enjoyed in sex belongs to Him. It rests in His control and celebrates His care in the midst of the most intimate of human connections.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, help me to understand You better so that I may please You better than before henceforth by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Happy Weekend!
