Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Weekend Speaker:  Pastor Ben Sigman

Theme:  Beyond: Next Level Living, Week Two - How To Win Over Temptation

Read:  I Corinthians 6:12-20

Think:  “The truth is that evil is not a real thing at all, like God.  It is simply good spoiled.”  - C.S. Lewis

The writings of C.S. Lewis never fail to challenge our thinking.  In our culture, the concepts of good and evil are often conceived as distinct and somehow equally powerful forces.  But Lewis sets us straight.  Good, the reflection of God’s character, exists because God exists.  Everything bad (evil, sinful) is at its core a corruption of some good.  There is nothing original about sin – it steals, twists and spoils something good created by God.

I was reminded of this when Pastor Ben preached about sex in his ‘Next Level Living’ series on Sunday.  I don’t think there could be any clearer illustration of how something wonderful can be corrupted into something repugnant than the way we humans have abused God’s gift of sex.  What God intended to bring together often drives us apart.  What should bring wholeness and healing spreads brokenness and infirmity.  With our poor choices, we demean both the beauty of sexual intimacy and our own bodies.

The culture around us is seeking to do away with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ when it comes to sex.  A false goodness is asserted, claiming that anything between consenting adults is good.  But common sense and personal experience tell us otherwise.  Sex between and married man and woman is not just the best choice, it is the only good choice, because it is God’s design. 

For so many of us, this is an area where we have accepted something which has been spoiled, and, perhaps, even thought of it as good.  Let’s put that behind us, and accept the best of God’s design. “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).  That includes sex!

Do:  Name a specific idea about sex that you are tempted to think is true, but you know falls short of God’s plan.  Are you ready to let it go?

Pray:  God, I think it’s kind of weird when church people say sex is good.  I’m used to TV shows and movies extolling the greatness of sex, but I’ve sort of picked up the idea that church people think it’s bad.  Well, I guess that you must think it’s a good thing, since it was your idea.  Teach me to understand and appreciate sex as you planned, God.  Amen.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.