Today’s sexuality is akin to selecting a jelly bean — we pick and choose our sexual orientation based on how we feel. Even so, there’s one sexual option that stands out as shockingly unusual in our culture.
I’m not talking about sex change operations, or homosexuality or bi-sexuality. Nor am I talking about heterosexual monogamy in marriage, though many no longer see this as the norm any more.
No, I’m referring to the choice some have made to celebrate healthy manhood or womanhood in the context of being celibate.
In other words, they’ve chosen to live without sex — either for a season, or a lifetime.
That sounds so weird, doesn’t it? Isn’t sex on the same level as food or air or water, a necessity for life? Even if they could, why would anyone want to live without it?
Here’s the thing: our culture is so enamored with sex that we have elevated it to something more than it is. We think of it as a basic need, something we can’t survive without.
We’ve bought into the lie which evolution theory has posited — that we are mere animals who cannot help but give in to our base urges.
On the one hand, we put sex on a pedestal. On the other hand, we strip it of its sacred value.
Instead of treating this gift of God like a treasure, we throw it around like so much loose change.
It’s perfectly normal today for a young man to expect sex from a young woman just because he paid for her dinner. Which means he values her less than a prostitute, when you think about it.
But this is the world we live in. Sexual “freedom” has become sexual chaos.
There’s terrible collateral damage in countless human hearts.
In the midst of this mess, Christians need to hold out hope more strongly than ever.
We need to demonstrate by our lives that the truth of God’s word has not changed, and that the path to blessing remains the same: obedience to him.
We need to live out the truth that sex is neither necessary for survival, nor to be treated flippantly.
I Peter 4:3,4a says, “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.”
The Amplified Bible renders the word “surprised” as “astonished.” In today’s culture, people think that sexual restraint is just flat weird, and may even speak poorly of those who make this choice.
Isaiah warns, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” –Isaiah 5:19-21
The world shouts, Whatever sexual urges you have, you should act on them! That’s who you are! But the Christian response is, I have another choice, and obedience to Christ is my joy and privilege.
Celibacy is an honorable biblical choice. It leaves a person free to pursue Christ with their whole heart, unencumbered by the cares of married life (1 Corinthians 7).
Celibacy is a path of blessing for those who are tempted with same-sex attraction. It’s a life lived within healthy boundaries, offering freedom to the devoted heart of a single Christ-follower.
Celibacy is not weird. It’s not impossible. It’s a healthy, godly, doable lifestyle.
Let’s embrace and honor our single brothers and sisters who choose celibacy over sexual sin.
Let’s allow their integrity and devotion to inspire us all.
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