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FAITH FUEL

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Jesus, Sex, & Humpty Dumpty


"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. "


Photo by Brannon Naito on Unsplash

You know the song. It's perhaps the most well known nursery rhymes in the English language. So what does this children's song have to do with Jesus?

The song speaks of Humpty Dumpty having a "great fall" and not being able to be "put back together again" in spite of great efforts to do so, and this is precisely what Jesus came to do for humanity, to put them back together to their original God given state. And unlike the king's men and king's horses in the children's song, Jesus absolutely has the power to do it.

"The foundations for understanding of our true selves are expressed in Genesis 1:26-27. Being created in God's image means that we were designed to reflect him in every way - physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. Sin is essentially a wedge that separates us from God and our divine-likeness, which in turn leads to fragmentation within ourselves and between one another. Within this crisis, like a physician setting broken bones, Jesus's work of atonement was the thoroughgoing act of restoring human wholeness. As the first man in the new humanity, Jesus put right all that was wrong within the human condition. As members of this new humanity we can now confidently "put on the new self, created to be like God in and holiness" (c.f. Eph 4:24)." (Divine Sex, Grant, pg. 151-152)


"The irony is that often we think the things that will satisfy and make us whole are the things that continue to fragment our souls."

Because of the fall of man (which specifically represents your sin and my sin) we have become fragmented from our true selves, splintering us from the whole and healthy self that God desires us to be. Sin fragments us in various ways but if you are honest with yourself, you can even perceive this fragmentation, knowing that something is not right with you and the world. The irony is that often times we think the things that will satisfy us, help us become whole, complete, and find meaning are the very things that continue to fragment our souls further. This is perhaps felt no more acutely than in the realm of sexuality (notice the uniqueness of the sin discussed in 1 Cor 6:18). Jesus came to make you and me whole again, and although this is many times a grueling process, including self denial and the crucification of the flesh (and is not the wave of a some magic wand that happens in an instant) being a Christian and following Jesus is the process of being made whole, becoming the true selves that God intended us to be.

As we follow Jesus and are obedient to Him, he teaches us, guides us, and empowers us, to be put back together again living a life on this earth as he did, whole and close to God. Our wholeness will not be made complete until we are rid of these temporary tents (2 Pet 1:13-14), but as we walk with him we are sanctified even in this life and our being put back together again begins.

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