Counter Cultureமாதிரி

Sexuality Loving our neighbor and respecting the equal dignity of all people don’t mean what our culture would have us believe. Men and women are created distinctly and intentionally. Gender, sexuality, and marriage are all part of God’s beautiful design. Men and women made in His image could share in the joy of a personal relationship with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This ability and opportunity to relate to God were unique. Nothing else in all creation bore the image of God. Men and women alone were made in the likeness of God though not identical to Him. He was infinite; they were finite. He was divine; they were human. He was Spirit; they were flesh. Yet in a way that nothing else in all creation can, men and women shared certain moral, intellectual, and relational capacities with God. They had the power to reason, the desire to love, the ability to speak, and the capacity to make moral decisions. God created them, blessed them, and gave them authority over the rest of His creation (see Gen. 1:28). Man and woman were God’s image bearers. He commanded them to be fruitful, multiplying His image throughout His creation, filling the earth with the glory of the Creator. But this command wasn’t just a theological metaphor. It was literal and practical. God expected procreation. Multiplication would have been impossible if God had created humans male and male or female and female. God’s unique design enabled them to carry out His command. This divine design involved far more than the capacity to reproduce, as important as that was. There was something greater than mere genetics here. There was enjoyment. God created man and woman to cherish their shared equality while complementing their various differences. He designed man and woman for sexual intimacy. Mutual benefit and pleasure resulted from being equal yet distinct. This is the context for healthy, biblical sexuality. [The video portion of this devotional is not available on your device. To view this video, visit your plan at www.Bible.com]