I was working toward my master’s degree in counseling/human relationships at Liberty University when my Human Sexuality professor, Dr. David Lawson, posed this shocking question to the class:

“How is your relationship with God ‘sexual’ in nature?”

Silence. All of us students sat there in our desks wondering, “Is this a joke?”

It was no joke. It was our honest-to-goodness, serious-as-a-heart-attack assignment to discuss this deep theological question in a small group setting for the following two hours.

Two hours?!?! Wouldn’t two minutes be enough? I thought.

Little did I realize that we could have chewed on this topic for two full days, and still not have exhausted all of the possibilities!

Our small group tossed around all kinds of insightful responses such as the fact that in both our sexual relationship with our spouse, and in our spiritual relationship with God, there is:

As I’ve continued to contemplate this question, and even discuss it with audience members at some of my speaking events, I’ve realized that our sexuality serves all kinds of amazing purposes! Just consider this…

What else in all of creation can so effectively:

* Comfort you when you are sad?

* Calm you when you are anxious?

* Provide an outlet for expression when you’re excited?

* Relieve boredom?

* Help you forget your current trials and tribulations?

* Make you sleep better?

* Provide intense guilt-free pleasure?

* Help you feel deeply connected to another human being and to God?

* Erase feelings of loneliness and isolation?

* Give you an interesting break from your daily routine?

* Relieve stress, and even certain aches and pains?

* Enhance your overall health and vitality?

* Fulfill your hopes and dreams of parenthood?

* Rev your engine, float your boat, light your fire?

* Send sparks through your brain and shivers down your spine?

* Make you feel so giddy, so special, so cherished and celebrated?

Yeah, only sex can do all that. And it does all that quite well!

So what was God thinking when He created sex? I believe He was thinking, “I’m going to bless their socks off!” (and a few other articles of clothing)

If we grasped these concepts fully, how would it change our sex lives? Our spiritual lives? Our marriages? Our family dynamics? Could we learn to see sexuality as the tremendous gift that God surely intended? Would we be inspired to give God all the more thanks and praise in our daily lives? Would we experience even more passion and pleasure as we fully allow ourselves to get caught up in the rapturous experience of fully loving and affirming one another?