I am troubled by how we have become so over aware of sexuality. Most every advertisement, every song, every article of clothing, every thought has been steered towards sex and sexual attraction. Sex, being a perk of life and the point of procreation is a wonderful facet of life. Despite popular opinion it is not the sole purpose and function of our lives. More specifically it is a fruit of a deep covenant relationship between a husband and a wife. It’s a mysteriously beautiful gift given to a relationship that is hidden in the secret places of love and deep connection with another person. Yet, in all it’s mystery and beauty a child can study sexual acts and look upon various naked bodies and presume to understand the mystery and beauty of sex.
For anyone who has known marriage and deep love for another person we know what a great difference there is in intimacy in marriage and the act of sex. They are like night and day. Not necessarily unrelated, but somehow the substance of action is totally other. Somehow the action does not make the mystery. You can take a thousand photos, a million videos and yet never actually capture the culminating beauty of sexual intimacy.
There are many others things to say about this. Like it’s relationship to depression in the modern world where sex addicts and promiscuity runs rampant. I’m leaving this here for you to think about.
The reason I say all of this is that I’ve recently realized that one of the reasons I have a growing disdain for cultural Christianity is the for the same reason.
I am troubled by how we have become so over aware of Christianity. Most every advertisement, every song, every article of clothing, every thought has been steered towards Christ and Christianity. Christianity, being a perk of life and the point of euphoric freedom is a wonderful facet of life. Despite popular opinion the religion of Christianity is not the sole purpose and function of our lives. More specifically it is a fruit of a deep covenant relationship between man and God. It’s a mysteriously beautiful gift given to a relationship that is hidden in the secret places of love and deep connection with God. Yet, in all it’s mystery and beauty a child can study Christianity and look upon various doctrines and presume to understand the mystery and beauty of Christianity.
For anyone who has known Christ, we know how starkly different it is to know and walk with Christ than it is to be on the treadmill of religion. It’s like night and day. And there may be a million sermons that attempt to explain that relationship away it can never substitute living in the mystery and beauty of covenant with God.
Jesus, for the majority of His time on earth spoke to the broader people in parables and similes. His disciples where confused saying…
10 “Why do you tell stories?”
11-13He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight.
Matthew 13 (The Message)
Jesus spoke truths, healed the sick, raised the dead, exorcised the demons for the sake of guiding people to mysterious and fulfilling relationship with God. In fact, He laid down His life to make this available to the people again. What had been lost in the very earliest ages of human existence was now made available once again through His blood.
This is the beauty of the Christ, the great unlocking of our deepest needs. The opportunity to be in union with God in the secret place of our hearts. Take a look at the teachings of Christ. Look at how He encourages the secrecy of intimacy with God. How he encouraged secrecy in giving. And how our actions growing from our secret intimacy would justify our faith.
This may be a little hard to hear, especially today. But I believe that someone who is reading this has only known the porn of the Christian culture and has never known the beauty of intimacy. Thankfully the truth is in the very fabric of the air we breath. God is with us… even now He is Emmanuel. Receive Him.
Collision of Kingdoms 