Fifty Shades of Grey and Intimacy.

(Usually I read back over my posts to make sure I'm not too all over the place or to make sure what I think I'm saying makes sense, but for this one, I didn't...because it's 2 AM -- so here's an apology for any awkwardly phrased sentences or typos you may find below!)

Seeing all the excitement about the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer has been weighing heavy on my heart lately. I've heard so many women at the bookstore I work in be like “where’s my Mr. Grey?”, seen so many tweets about how it’s “deliciously scandalous” and I've seen a plethora of comments about how people wish certain scenes in the trailer could happen within their own relationships. And man oh man, it’s just super disheartening to see that THAT is what people have been waiting for -- to see intimacy displayed on a giant screen in front of millions, and  to, quite frankly (and ironically), take all the intimacy out of it in the process.

I guess what I’m essentially upset about is that, in our society, the beauty of sexual love is being camouflaged by big fat lies. And it’s no surprise that this is Satan’s doings -- that, because of him entering the scene, lies have entered into it as well. John 8:44 tells us the true character of Satan. The devil “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks with his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So to sum it up Satan is a big fat liar who dishes out the big fat lies we see all around us in the “popular culture” of today. And I think some of his favorite big fat lies tend to relate to our sexuality because of its powerful symbolism.

In the book, “And the Bride Wore White,” Dannah Gresh compares the way Satan lies to you and me about sex to the way he lied to Eve and Adam about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is her reasoning behind that comparison: “God’s word tells us that everything in the Garden of Eden was created by God’s own hand. It also tells us that He is incapable of making anything NOT good. So, it is very possible that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would have had an interesting and noble purpose had Even simply waited for God to reveal it to her in His time. Interesting thought, don’t you think? Sex is like that. Is it such a good and wonderful thing that God has created if we wait for God’s timing to enjoy it. Satan knows that one of the most beautiful things in the world is the sexual union between a husband and a wife when they wait to enjoy it after their wedding. Satan wants to rob us of that. So he lies to us. Satan looks at our sexuality much like he looked at Adam and Eve’s Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – he is threatened by it and will do anything to see that we misuse it.”

I feel like Fifty Shades of Grey just further promotes Satan’s widespread lies about sex and intimacy. It’s so easy for the people Satan preys on to buy into lies like “church is boring,”  “scripture reading is boring,” “discussing the Bible with other Christians is boring,” “loving God is boring,” etc., view a trailer of a movie like Fifty Shades of Grey with a mind saturated with those lies, and then think that the “intimacy” Fifty Shades of Grey showcases to the world is a lot more exciting that the intimacy that Christ offers us.

And I can only imagine how God must feel when we choose other things over Him as a result of this, therefore giving up true intimacy that only He can provide us with.

I think one of the most accurate portrayals of how He might feel and how He reacts to us giving into Satan’s lies is located within the story of Hosea and his wife. The Lord chose Hosea (whose name, by the way, means deliverance or salvation – and that’s a pretty cool thing to note, so keep it in mind) to become a living parable (which is just neat in general). Hosea, a prophet, loved God so much and so appreciated the undeserving love that God showed to His people, that he agreed to marry Gomer, a prostitute. So! Hosea took Gomer to be his bride even though her heart was far (far far faaaaaar) away from his own. Then, after Gomer gave Hosea three kids, she returned back to her old life of prostitution. Eventually, Gomer became bankrupt from this lifestyle and she was forced to sell herself into slavery. And this is where good ol' Hosea comes back into the picture! With unwavering commitment, he purchased Gomer’s freedom and then brought her back home. There, even after all she had done, he continued to pursue her with undeserved and undying love. Finally, his affection was returned and intimacy was established between them.

I think  our current culture, as well as each individual one of us at times, is a lot like Gomer. We reject the Love right in front of our noses and instead accept and lean into lies and temptations, finding ourselves empty, unfulfilled and bankrupt as a result – then we must resort to selling ourselves to masters that can only offer up more counterfeit intimacy, counterfeit lust, counterfeit success, counterfeit  reputation, counterfeit possessions, etc. These things promise us peace, but fuel emptiness (and oh, how Satan must rejoice in that lie and its outcome). All the while, during all of this, our Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, has not only paid the price for us, but he is pursing us and He is patiently waiting to take us into His heart to establish true intimacy (NOT counterfeit intimacy) with us there.

And that, I think, is what threatens Satan the most in regards to intimacy. One of my Sunday school leaders from when I was in middle school said that intimacy was “into me see” – that, by sharing and blending our heart with someone else’s, we can “see into” who they really are and they can “see into” who we really are. Once you truly know Christ and you become intimate with Him, you can’t give into Satan’s lies because you know the comfort and fullness of joy found in Christ alone. When you know and are intimate with Christ’s heart, Satan’s lies have no power over you.

Satan’s after your intimacy and he’s after my intimacy -- and with the boldfaced lies circulating in our world today about sex and relationships, it hurts my heart to say that he’s doing a dang good job at robbing many of their true intimacy. That’s why I think it’s so important for those of us who know Christ intimately to stand firm in our beliefs our relationship with Him, which means recognizing the lies Satan dishes out, countering them with truths from scripture, and then continuing to pursue purity and pursue our relationship with Christ in every single aspect of our lives. And we do this, not just because we are asked to do so in scripture, but because God, our Hosea when we choose to act like Gomer, is always worth and deserving of it.