One of the things that makes the current confusion and chaos surrounding gender, sexuality, and marriage so challenging to respond to is that the world tells such an emotionally satisfying and uncomplicated story to support it all. It is a story which demands very little thought because there is no complexity to it. It is a story that is expressed in such sentiments as: “Shouldn’t I be able to love who I want to love?” or “This is who I am. How can you demand that I change?”

The story the world tells is that we are our own Maker; that we create ourselves to the extent that we can defy the reality imprinted within our cells and upon our bodies. It is a story which claims to offer liberation from God-given restrictions. The story the world tells is that sex is something which can be separated entirely from any form of commitment or consequence – that sex is about me and therefore all about my pleasure however I might construe that.

And to make matters all the more tragic – with nothing more than a simple expression of emotional sentiment – Christians are throwing away everything God teaches in his Word about the nature of humanity, sin, marriage, the family, sexual ethics, and even salvation because they are being persuaded by the story the world is telling about sexuality and marriage.

The story the Bible tells about gender, sexuality and what it means to be human is longer and more complex than the story the world tells. It is a story which calls for disciplined thoughts and feelings. But God’s story is the right story; the better story. And rather than out-argue the world’s story, Christians are going to have to out-narrate it with God’s better story beginning in Genesis.

When Adam saw Eve he realized she was wholly sufficient to overcome his deficiency, complete his humanity and fulfill his needs. In marriage God brings a member of the opposite sex. True marriage and sexuality is being completely satisfied with just that one alone. We appropriate God’s provision of this particular member of the opposite sex, and we are complete as a husband and wife until God separates us by death. The Bible’s story of gender, sexuality, and marriage is one of flourishing, joy, and redemption.