Here's the defining truth: The heart of the sexual urge is the urge to completion. Not found in porn. Not found in any act in and of itself. On an experiential level, people know this. They've "done it" and moved along to the next. Incomplete. Bewildered.
Yet the urge makes promises for completion. Always hoping.
Let's take our cues from great wisdom of the ages. This "urge" points to a completion that can only be found in God. It is a compass whose "Due North" is God. A capacity to participate in the total, mutual, self-gift that IS God. The end is union in God.
[For those with spiritual eyes to see, this is the great symbol of celibate priests and religious... signifying our ultimate, eternal intimacy while yet on this earth!]
Now consider Satan's great jealousy. He knows this capacity for a completion in God. Not happy. Note that the "sexual urge" rightly conceived (pun intended) is ultimately a kind of worship. A capacity to imitate and participate in God. What does Satan do to avert us from this right worship? Distracts us with a shiny apple. Magnets. Pointing toward different gods. Alienation. Brokenness.
Compass out of kilter. Is this not what we see all around us? Within us?
The good news. Note everywhere that the sexual urge is quite alive. Just not well. It's working, with it's compelling power - just not working correctly.
Imagine if this compelling compass were to be re-calibrated. Rid of the magnets. Rightly ordered. Pointing Due North. Not the pill, but in the power of God's holy will. Godly, holy, pure, powerful, self-possessed, intimate, true love. Just imagine.
We can't do it. We need a Savior. We need to be saved. Not just once, but every new day. We need to invite Him to deliver us from the magnets. We need to cooperate. In this day, this generation, He calls us to be witnesses to His great, transforming mercy. Not just a one-time event, but many steps. Take the first. Don't settle for the artificial, fleeting, wounding version of passionate fire you were designed for...
"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
[If you have this witness and are willing to share it, perhaps are in the midst of it -- please contact me privately -- we're looking for authentic witnesses to showcase what God is wanting to do... and is doing. Please pray about it-- and for the vast multitude - that our collective, human compass once again point Due North.]
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Greg Schlueter is Secretariat Leader for Evangelization and Parish Life for the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. He and his wife, Stephanie, are parents to seven children (one in heaven) and also lead Image Trinity, a Catholic family movement committed to engaging families in the great adventure of discovering our identity and living IT - we Image the Trinity. (Get IT?)
