I believe that becoming a new creation calls us to totally rethink sexuality. I am challenged to abandon male and female and become one in Christ. My exploration of my new creation self could include some disturbing concepts. As much as I might relish my hetero- or bi- or homosexuality I am challenged by the reality of being new. I can appeal to genetics and scream at science to say it’s how I am made but scripture tells me all that vanishes in the context of being in Christ where I become a completely new species. How can I justify sex to be excluded from this transformation from darkness to light. I now live as though resurrected from the dead and partake of the divine nature, what ever that may mean! So for both homosexual and heterosexual alike there is a doing away with the old, for both there is a profound challenge to think out of the box.
I have no definitions of conformity other than the production of identifiable fruit. Paul says to the pure all things are pure, that now becomes a fantastic statement ejecting us from our comfort zones. It disturbs our concepts of normal and flies in the face of safe. It takes away the supports of the past and offers us a new realm to explore, the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom cares little for my personal tastes and squeamishness. It hits me with force and purpose that it is no longer I that live but Christ. I am told that Christ is forever interceding for us and so being in Christ all my activity is also an intersession. This must also include sexuality. It now becomes an expression of Godly purpose not self gratification. A river of life, a stream of Godly tenderness and divine response. A dance freed from shame, obsessions and fantasies, this oneness with another becomes part of our experience of God.
I am mentally slammed against the wall of my own preconceived limitations. I have to take a leap of faith or remain ever grounded, on the runway. Dare I concede that everything is now new, my time, my emotions, my thoughts, my inclinations, even my very DNA structure? I am faced with absolute expected outcomes of selflessness, long suffering, gratitude, faithfulness, humility and service that are required of all my dealings with others. I am promised that all who walk according to this rule of being new will experience peace and mercy. Can I possibly risk everything to experience being one with God? Have I the guts to abandon my old creature normality to learn afresh? Do I have the courage to be born again? Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he showed prudent caution, he instinctively knew that to walk the aisle would have profound ramifications.
This newness doesn’t just add meaning to my life it totally recreates me. This event defuses prejudice and quiets arguments, it reaches into my deepest interior and shouts ‘be still.’ Who am I to have an opinion other than unconditional positive regard for all of creation? Rather like Peter on the rooftop I am cornered by my own appetite for Godly approval, I proudly tell God what I expect, only to find God clearing His throat and forcing a rethink.
I do not communicate as a man or woman any longer, as we are to know no one after the flesh. I do not relate as a homosexual or a heterosexual any longer. I have to discover what the Father is doing and be about His business, what ever that may be. The one thing I do know is that I am a new creation and my purpose is to do what ever God does and I do all this in His Kingdom and this can be verified by experiencing the fruit I produce.
For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)