Embracing Your Identity (part 2 of 2)
“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”—I Corinthians 7:2
After World War II, American culture succeeded in promoting the idea that masculinity (the male role) is promiscuity, and that femininity (the female role) is chastity. Then, in the 1960s, the “sexual revolution” supposedly set everyone free to be promiscuous. After all, the girls could be “just as good as” the boys, right? Enter feminism, the homosexual movement, and gender confusion! But a Christian who understands his identity based on Authority must recognize the moral boundaries established by that Authority as well.
God’s Purpose: Morality
Embracing your identity will mean submitting to moral boundaries. If you will trust God’s Word for what you are, trust His guidelines for protecting what you are. What are God’s moral boundaries?
First, all homosexual activity is forbidden. Despite the world’s twisted attack on people who believe it, God’s design at Creation and His plainly stated commands affirm this prohibition. God made them male and female with the express intent that they were meant for each other in physical union, that is, the male for the female, and the female for the male. This is clearly God’s Creative intent:
“God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…”—Genesis 1:28
“…they [a man and his wife] shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”—Genesis 2:24-25
Homosexuality does away with God’s design for male and female by putting male for male and female for female. It is a denial of God’s Creative design. Homosexual acts cannot and do not fulfill God’s command for mankind to “be fruitful, and multiply.” Therefore, homosexuality is contrary to God’s design for His Creation.
Beyond the plain design that God had for male and female at Creation are God’s repeated prohibitions against homosexual behavior throughout the entire Bible: Old and New Testaments. Here is what the Christian’s Authority has to say about homosexuality:
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”—Leviticus 18:22
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination…”—Leviticus 20:13
The word abomination is a strong word. Anything that compromises God’s perfect sacrifice, God’s moral absolutes, or God’s unique position is an abomination. Homosexual behavior violates the moral absolutes found in God’s Creation and Law.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men… when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful… God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator… For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly…”—Romans 1:18, 21, 24-27
What begins as the creation’s refusal to respect God as Creator, ends in the “vile affections” and “lusts,” and the “unseemly” activity of homosexuality. Notice that the slippery slope begins with their not honoring Him as God, and their not being thankful (v. 21). We honor and appreciate God as Creator when we accept what He created us to be. Failing to embrace what we are puts us on the path to immorality. Failing to submit to His moral boundaries makes us immoral.
Second, all sexual acts outside of marriage are forbidden. God’s Creative intent generally was male for female, and female for male. But, more specifically, His intent of the male/female relationship was husband for wife, and wife for husband. Adam and Eve were not only the first man and woman; they were the first husband and wife!
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”—Genesis 2:24
Adam didn’t even have a “father and… mother,” but future boys and girls would. In the Garden, God instituted marriage as the approved condition for male/female relations. God did not command men and women to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” He commanded a husband and a wife. Paul reiterates this:
“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”—I Corinthians 7:1-2
The act of marriage is reserved for marriage. Outside of marriage, the physical relationship between men and women is forbidden by God in numerous passages throughout the Scriptures (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18:20; Deuteronomy 5:18; 22:22-24; Ephesians 5:3-5; Colossians 3:5; I Thessalonians 4:3-4). God promises strong punishment for those who ignore this moral boundary that He has established (Hebrews 13:4). Sexual immorality damages your conscience, scars your mind, affects your reputation, and inflicts harm on your body (Deuteronomy 22:22; Proverbs 6:32-33; I Corinthians 6:18).
Submitting to God’s moral boundaries protects both male and female, confirms them in their identity, and allows them to mature in that identity.
God’s Passion: His Glory
Third, embracing your identity means trusting God as your Creator, and your Guide for this life. Having looked at the Scriptures, and having seen what God says about gender identity and boundaries, no matter how you feel or what someone may have suggested to you, know that you can trust your loving Creator. He made you what you are for a reason. And, at the end of the day, His reason is His glory.
For whatever other reasons God made you male, or female, the ultimate reason was so that you would live as He made you, trusting Him entirely with that, so that His unique position as Creator could be seen and praised. He will get that glory by working in you and through you.
“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”—John 9:1-3
This man was born blind. That was his condition at birth. The reason for his being born blind did not have anything to do with him or his parents. His blindness was part of God’s design to manifest His work. Now, hopefully you don’t see your gender as a handicap! The principle is that you are what you are so that God can show His works through you.
And God not only has His reason, but He is good. His intentions for you and toward you are good, and hopeful.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”—Jeremiah 29:11
God’s passion for the Christian is that we glorify Him. We cannot do that by denying what He made us, or by ignoring His moral boundaries. So, what are you? Embrace that identity, strengthen it by submitting to God’s moral boundaries, and then glorify God through that identity by accurately playing your role, a subject we will look into next.