Was it good for you- reflections pt. 2

OK, we'll start with the most basic affirmation:

God invented sex.
He made us men and women in his image.
He made us in His image.
He made us sexual.

It's no mistake it feels good, we desire it, babies are made through it.
It's all part of God's plan and purpose.

It comes down to one of three views:
Sex is God
Sex is Gross
Sex is a Gift
(See the book, A Celebration of Sex, for a thorough Christian discussion of this)

One Extreme- Sex is God.
Sex feels good, and I desire it, so it must be the whole purpose and point of my life.
Let's face it- our culture worships sex.
We see in everywhere in every possible context, in every possible way.
Get as much as you can.
Do what feels good.
But then the tiny disclaimer is thrown in, "As long as you don't hurt anyone."
And yet people seem to keep getting hurt.
The truth is that for many people sex is the closest thing to pure pleasure they have experienced.

Another Extreme- Sex is Gross.
Those that have been hurt or violated often conclude that sex is just gross.
It messy and messes people up.
It should be repressed and avoided.
Some folks are just taught this.
They haven't had any bad experiences personally, but a happy, healthy sex life in the context of marriage is sabotaged before it starts because weird ideas about sex are implanted in their beliefs.

The Truth- Sex is a Gift.
Let me put it this way:
God attaches pleasure to things that glorify him and bring Him delight.
I think he makes flowers beautiful and smell great because he likes flowers.
I think he makes food taste good so we can delight in eating.
I think God makes our bodies release endorphins when we exercise because it's good for our bodies.

So following that pattern in creation... God must really like sex!
It feels good,
we desire it,
we need it,
it does our bodies good!

But like any gift is has to be used responsibly.
We can't just focus on the pleasure or the desire.
We can never forget it's purpose and place.

If we only focus on the pleasure food brings us, we'll only eat ice cream, and we'll get fat, and we'll get heart disease, and we'll hurt ourselves.

Just apply that principle to sex and think about what happens when we only focus on the pleasure it gives.

It ends us leading to pain and death, not pleasure and life.

The point is this- when we only focus on the pleasure, we mess up.
But when we embrace the purpose and place, the pleasure is there in spades!

So in summary,
the biblical view is that sex is a gift from God.
It has a purpose.
It has a place.
Take it out of context, and ultimately we experience pain.
But when exercised in context, it brings incredible pleasure.

Yes, INCREDIBLE PLEASURE!