Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Ephesians 5:1-5 CSB
If you were asked, without reading this passage, what would be needed to “put on” as the new creation in order to “put off” the old self of sexual sin, greed, and obscene talk, you would probably say “purity” right? The church’s call to purity has been its biggest emphasis in its fight against the cultural flood of sexual immorality and the like, so this passage should give us pause. Paul could have offered a variety of solutions to the problems he listed, but he chose thanksgiving. Why is that?
If thanksgiving is the cure, then there must be a complete lack of thanksgiving in the heart of one engaging in immorality, greed, and foolishly impure talk. When we really think about those vices, they are motivated by a heart attitude and message that says, “I don’t have enough”. Whether it’s enough fulfilling sexual experiences, enough stuff in general, or enough attention that immoral joking brings, it all points to a restless heart that is not content. Unfortunately, our culture feasts on this innate sense of scarcity in our fallen souls.
The means by which an American can seek to satiate the impulses of greed and sexual lust is practically infinite, or at least all the “options” could never be experienced in a human lifetime. The world may say that this points to the abundance of opportunities for fulfillment, but in reality it points to the profound scarcity of fulfillment. It simply shows that nothing is working, and the culture has to keep churning out more extreme and profoundly guile ways at providing fulfillment because nothing but God can fulfill our deepest longings. Under that scarcity of fulfillment is shame, for we are never beautiful enough, sexually experienced enough, fulfilled enough, or able to acquire enough to fulfill our desires. That sense of shame and unfulfillment has been exploited by a sex industry that has tapped into our deepest depravity and hijacked the brain chemistry of humanity to abuse people and make a ludicrous profit to the tune of almost 270 billion annually worldwide.
The deck seems stacked against us. How can we possibly fight against an enemy with so many resources and compelling tactics? Although it seems daunting globally and nationally, we must recognize that Paul is talking about personal responsibility and ownership. The battleground we are to be most concerned about is that of our own hearts, as well of those in our direct care. So how do we replace immorality and greed with thanksgiving?
The first step is to grow in awareness of the immorality, greed, and other vices that feed off of the shameful scarcity narratives we believe. Yes, this fallen world does not provide us with all we want or need at times, but how are we dealing with loss and perceived “deprivation”? Where are we not content? As the Spirit shines a light on these darker places of our hearts where we’ve provided for ourselves through fleshly desires, we can then assess the cost to ourselves, the impact these sins have on others, and ultimately how they fly in the face of God and his provision. When we truly see the weight of living this way and enter into godly grief leading to repentance, we can surrender these errant strategies for fulfillment to Christ and lay them at the cross. We then ask the Spirit to reveal to us how we have been provided for. It takes work to practice contentment. Paul says in Philippians 4:19 “my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The culture will scoff at this and point to our scarcity and shame us, but when we look with sanctified eyes at our life and our provision, we can only conclude that we are abundantly provided for in Christ.
Can we count the things of the world as rubbish and instead glory in our inheritance in Christ so much that anything else pales in comparison? This requires a reevaluation of what our true needs are, and how God provides for our needs. Reconciliation to God must be on the top of our needs list. All else is a distant second. Then, as we see the overabundance of provision in these secondary things, we can see them for what they truly are, signposts that point to the ultimate provision in Christ. May we have eyes to see our abundance, hearts to receive our true abundance, and lips that worship from a place of thanksgiving.
New Creation Living 
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