Born Again This Way: Coming out, coming to faith, and what comes next

by Rachel Gilson

What is the motivation to obey a law that seems nonsensical? It can only be deep trust in the one who asks. This is not how we relate to most laws though.

But it is symptomatic of human sin and rebellion that we confuse God’s good things with ultimate things. We always resist worshipping and honoring him. We prefer comfort to submission. So we take God’s stuff and try to ditch God.

The root of our problem. Sin isn't primarily a behaviour problem, it is a worship problem.

Singleness is therefore filled with fresh dignity. Single Christians communicate that a truer marriage is coming and that they are willing to bet their life on it. They communicate that the church really is a family, and we better live like it. Even when his singleness is unchosen and painful, the single man communicates how much Jesus longs for his wife, the church. The single woman shows the longing of the church away from the Lord: how worth waiting for he is. And neither will feel as if they have missed out when the picture is swallowed up by the real thing. _____

In the moment of battle, I didn’t need shame heaped on me for being stuck in sexual sin, or for having disordered desire in the first place. I needed support in the fight.

He is clear throughout Scripture that our desires are not a compass for goodness because they are broken. He is the compass for goodness, and he tells us plainly what pleases him and what will result in our thriving.

I wore the name of Jesus, but I was, in many ways, living like a pagan with Christian hobbies.

This unfortunately is very true for many. It certainly describes periods in my own life before becoming better established in the gospel.

Our faithfulness in singleness deeply challenges the idol that marriage and family have become in the church. It also poses a shocking witness to those outside of it. Clearly the Jesus-centered single life has power and purpose. Except sometimes—perhaps even much of the time—it just doesn’t feel that way.

Yet we’ve seen that the church is meant to be, and can be, family.