January 9

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed...”  —EPHESIANS 5:3

Ephesus was a city built around the worship of the goddess Diana, a god of hunting, but also the goddess of fertility. It was a feeding ground for sexual deviation that was so commonplace, it was considered the norm. Paul’s message to the church in Ephesus is conveying that living a life of love means saying no to illicit sex. In this day and age, how are we to comprehend that when contemporary morality celebrates all kinds of sexual activity with the only legal criterion being age and consent? 

In the first two verses of Ephesians 5, Paul writes, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Paul stresses the fact that we are loved by God, which is supremely demonstrated in Christ giving His life for us. Then in verse 3, Paul says, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.” 

Why does Paul write these verses back to back; the first two wonderfully exalting about knowing the love of God, and the next suddenly plummeting to a stringent command of not ever getting involved in sexual immorality or impurity? It is because we were created to live in an intimate relationship with God first. Paul is affirming that when you find that satisfaction in God, then the role of our sexuality finds its place and function within the context of being fulfilled in our own hearts, spirits and souls by knowing that we are loved by God.

We live in a sex-saturated culture in which sexual activity has become a recreational feature, and almost completely divorced from its God-given intent and purpose. The sex act is actually an outward expression of something that goes on deeper inside. If we don’t know the love of God and what it means to be soulfully and spiritually satisfied by that, then we find ourselves searching for a way to fill that void. We can so quickly fall prey to sexual immorality as a way of masking our pain, but it’s always a temporal fix that eventually leads to bankrupting our souls. 

Author and theologian, G.K. Chesterton wrote, ‘every time a man knocks on the door of a brothel, he is looking for God.’ That is a profound statement, because our need and desire for intimacy grows out of our need to know God and to be known by Him, and loved by Him. It is in a loving relationship with God that we are made whole.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that your love will always be the light in me that steers me away from any immoral or impure practice. Thank You, Lord.

TO REFLECT UPON: Does the love of God complete and satisfy me?