Sex God

Just finished reading Sex God by Rob Bell. Rob kindly reminds us in these 174 pages that yeah, God made sex too. Not too many authors can tick off church people with only their book title, but here's a guy that does it well.

I recommend the book, but if you're looking to round some of life's corners, let me show you a clip off the highlight reel.

We all desire to be in relationships, and not just of the romantic kind. I mean, you've got friends, family, coworkers. There are days you'd want to get rid of them, but most of the time you wouldn't want to do life without them. There's a whole list of stupid things we do with this desire to be in relationships, but we aren't talking about that now. So if you aren't a creative person, you'll have to check out the book.

We desire to be in relationships. You. Me. All of us. We were made to connect with other people. We know the risks. We've been burned 1,000 times by another person. For some, you still cling to a hemorrhaging wound from your parents. For others, it might have been a cut as recent as a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Maybe you've been so sheltered that no one has ever hurt you, but I doubt it.

We hesitate to enter into new relationships. We meet someone new at work, the gym, at school, some other social setting. They're kind of intriguing, and you'd like to get to know them. On the other hand, this person might reject you, lead you on, manipulate you. Who knows? The pain of the past leaves you paralyzed,

Or...

You pursue a relationship anyway. It's terrifying. The first few moments are agonizing, but you make it through. Time will tell where this relationship ends up, but for now, it feels good. Because you were made to connect with other people.

We aren't whole on our own, friends. You know that. We want something more than hermitage. So we pursue a relationship, for now, let's assume it's romantic. If we aren't careful, that serial killer I talked about in my last post rapes our relationship until it's all about our own needs with no regard to what is good for your special someone. We expect her to boost our ego, we expect him to be affectionate. If we aren't careful, we soon bury this other person with our physical, emotional, and spiritual expectations that they have no chance of fulfilling. We can get along for awhile, but in the end, we are dissatisfied and it's time to move on to greener grass. Or so we think.

What if we stopped and realized that the reason we want to connect with others isn't about us at all? You'll have to get over my bias, but no relationship here on earth will ever complete you. Don't worry. Lauren usually rages when I tell her that too. We have to accept that if there's a relational need which no one on this earth can meet, we must need someone beyond this earth. We will only ever experience wholeness when we let God fully be a part of our lives. You don't have to wait until your deathbed like my dad did, you can have that now.

I pray someday you'll get that wholeness you are looking for. I know you crave connection with other people. I hope you realize that that is an okay thing, but this week I want you to do two things:

1) Let's realize that if you're in a relationship for your own satisfaction, you're screwing it royally. Try transforming that relationship into something that's about them, not you.

2) Plug into a church, even if it's just one Sunday. Worst case scenario, you would have wasted that hour anyway. Ask someone about this relationship that you can have with the God who literally came to earth to bleed, die, and raise again all for you.

That's it for now, friends. Check out Sex God, at the very least you'll enjoy the strange looks you get as you carry it proudly!