We all receive a sexual education, but rarely was this an intentional or purposeful effort. As a result, we’re functioning more with a sexual miseducation that leads to much heartache and grief. There is no need to blame others for our lack of education, but we do need to take responsibility for it today.
While most of us likely sat through some version of sex education in school, this was usually limited to the biological aspects of procreation and general advice for avoiding STDs. This education did little in the forming of our sexual selves, but at least there was some intentional effort to provide us with information. The rest of our education was probably less deliberate, and potentially more harmful.
This is the miseducation we received through the music, movies, and shows that entertained us, peers, pornography, and even more indirectly through the silence of our parents and the church. Whatever it looked like, this miseducation painted a shallow and distorted picture of our sexuality, or otherwise allowed a shadow of darkness to remain.
We were not taught how our sexuality points us back to God, how to contemplate the wonder we see and experience in each other’s bodies, or how our sex lives can be a path of worship. While perhaps we hold strong moral boundaries around sex, we remain illiterate to the larger story God is telling through it. As such, our heart attitudes are not much different than the world’s, even when we keep our behaviors in the right context.
Of course, it’s helpful to consider who has taught us sexually. But we don’t have to spend energy blaming others for our miseducation. We simply become intentional about our sexual formation today, while also providing a better education for those God has entrusted to us.
In the end, don’t let your sexual miseducation continue to bring harm to you and your relationships. Commit to discovering the goodness and beauty God had in mind when he created us as sexual beings.
Photo by Moggy Amrani on Unsplash
