Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality…

Colossians 3:5

Put Off

Temples and Bodies

Whether it was the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or the Greeks, every culture that God’s people have bumped up against has connected sexuality to official religious rituals. Israel’s neighbors always had some form of cult prostitution. In some cultures, temple prostitutes were considered holy.

Why? Because they had given themselves wholly to their nation and its god(s).

The Israelite and the Christian sexual ethic is always out-of-step with its neighbors. And the difference, on both sides, is religious.

Including today.

Of course, we don’t have temples with idols and ritual prostitutes. But even the most secular culture is more religious than it seems. And our secularized-but-religious culture still, like ancient cultures, makes efficient use of sexuality to gain our loyalty.

God’s people are set apart (that’s what “holy” means) to serve him. The cultures of our day seek to set us apart, and consecrate us for service to their goals, too.

When our culture tells us that pornography, prostitution, sex outside of marriage, etc., are no big deal, it is telling us that our religious commitments are “immoral,” and theirs are “holy.”

So, we need to decide: are we with “the god of this age,” or are we with Jesus?

(2 Corinthians 4:4)  The choice is religious, no matter which we choose.

Paul implores us to put on Christ, and to put off worldly approaches to sexuality. What is one pattern of thought or action you recognize in your life that belongs to our secular “religion,” which you are being called to put off?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have given me new life in Jesus, and I want to give myself completely to him. And so, I want to put off the sexual rituals of my secular religious neighbors. Cleanse my thoughts, words, and actions, so that my heart and life are given over to prayer and praise, even in the area of my sexuality.

In Jesus’ name.  Amen.