Disorientation and Reorientation (1 Cor 6.9-11)

We are all in the same boat of being disoriented from the ultimate mystery, wonder, and attraction of life—the one true God (Rom 3.10-11). All of our other disorientations stem from that and show up in each of us in great variety. Some have impulses toward sexual disorientation, whether toward the opposite sex (serial partners, compulsive flirtation or fantasies) or the same sex. Some have other impulses – to lie, to cheat, to steal, to gorge, to hoard, to take advantage, to manipulate and control, to be impatient or angry, to lack empathy toward others or to pity themselves. And many of us, if not most, have more than one (Rom 1.28-31).

Whatever our symptoms, there is a sense in which each of us can say, “I was born that way” (Psalm 51.5; 58.3; Rom 7.15). But properly understood, that statement is an admission of the deepness of our need for God’s transforming love and power, not an excuse to remain as we are (Psalm 51.5-12). To say there is a genetic component is to say nothing more than God has created us body and soul (Gen 2.7). Everything we are and do is a mix of both. Saying that genes and environment are the whole story is a different matter. That is not a conclusion demanded by the data (contrary to popular myth), but a philosophical commitment demanded by the desire to push God out of the cosmos and out of our lives (Rom 1.21-23, 28). When we try to lock God out, no matter how sophisticated and scientific sounding our justifications, we always end up locking ourselves in a panic room with no door knob on the inside. What we thought would quickly save us, slowly kills us.

The panic room is not the answer; coming home is. Coming home always entails reorientation, first and fundamentally toward God in Christ. But any true reorientation toward God will always, over time, reorient everything else in our lives—what we live for, how we regard and treat others, the things we do when no one is looking, and yes, how and where our sexual desire is channeled. In areas where our disorientation runs deep, reorientation can be a belly crawl. That is true for each of us in at least one area that is highly personal to us. That is why Jesus called it “taking up one’s cross.” That is also why He insisted on it for all His disciples (Luke 9.23-24).