Link Love
The Real Problem with Female Masturbation I'm linking to this because I'm so grateful these subjects are being talked about more and more. I spoke at an event a few weeks ago and was astonished to find that most of the followup conversations I had with the women there were on sexual issues that they had never been taught about. It shouldn't have shocked me, but it did. Friends, leaders, women—we MUST create space for these conversations. We must shush the prude in us that doesn't want to say those words aloud and bend down in the dirt with our sisters to give them the living water. Nathan Bingham and Mathew Sims both had great articles up this week on whether it's a sin to retweet or share a compliment on social media.
There has never been a time in my memory when I have not wrestled with depression and condemnation. I am less prone to worry, anxiety, and panic than I ever was, but Simon and Garfunkel's Hello, darkness, my old friend, is a common refrain in my life. Zach Lee is one of the pastors at my church and for as long as he's been there, he's been honest about his struggles in this area. I'm grateful for his words here and hope they encourage you if you share the weakness.
If you were on Twitter at all this week #ERLCsummit was trending. I was a bit surprised as it was the hashtag from a small conservative conference meant to train Southern Baptist pastors and leaders in ministry. I watched many of the talks on the live-stream because they were on sex, homosexuality, pornography, and marriage—and I think we're in times when it's more important than ever to be thinking biblically about these issues instead of culturally. The reason the hashtag was trending so high, though, was because of the backlash it was receiving from the self-described progressive Christians. While I do think there was some unfortunate phrasing and less than apt metaphors made by some of the speakers, I was grieved by the reactions of some progressives. That said, I appreciated Wesley Hill's response as well as Chelsea Vicari's Women, Sexuality and the Southern Baptist's ERLC Summit. Every time a Twitter-storm happens on these issues, I'm reminded of what a great—and limited—tool Twitter is. And I'm freshly aware of our need to be in season and out, to live life face to face with real struggles and strugglers. 140 characters is not enough to disciple someone in truth.
Some time ago someone asked me, "Do you even want to be married?" My response surprised me: "No. I mean, I want to love Jesus. If living single with those girls in that house makes me love Jesus more than being married, no, I don't want to be married." I've thought about it so many times since then because the truth is, I DO want to be married and I DO think marriage would be good and hard in the right ways. But the deeper truth is that today I DO love my singleness because it is a gift from the Lord and I honestly see it as such. I appreciate Ben Stuart's thoughts here.
