| The Church of England has asked us to discuss marriage and what we think about human sexuality. It probably isn’t your preferred topic and it isn’t mine either. But it is what the media regularly raises and it is what our denomination is asking us to discuss in a project called ‘living in love and faith – LLF for short.One of the positive things about this is it gives us an opportunity to think about our ‘identity:’ The question ‘who am I?’ is one most of us ask at some time.Last week we noted that the Bible talks about all of us ‘falling short of the glory of God’ and our sexuality along with all the rest of us being dented by the reality of sin. So, the question is: where are we going to find healing for this and every area of our lives?The answer is in Christ – The identity that matters most is our identity in Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 |
| ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17 |
| The good news is that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross we can have peace with God, our sins forgiven and the restoration of God’s image. This will only happen fully at Christ’s return. Meanwhile, all who come to Him are filled with His Spirit and are being transformed into his likeness in every area of our lives including our sexuality. Christians now live a life centred on Christ, and are gradually becoming like Him who is the perfect man, who relates to women with perfect purity and perfect other centred love.Whoever we are, He takes all who come to Him and starts transforming us into His likeness by the work of His Spirit within. With all the confusion around having a rock like Him and the promise of becoming like him is great news. Please plan to join the discussion @ ‘a better story’ from 21 September 2021 in the Parish Hall to think more about these things, Your brother in Christ, Ian |