At one point or another each one of us has to fully resolve between our sinful desires and our faith in God. Let us look at the case of sexual desire.

At first, we may chase for gratification within the bounds of God’s laws. But what if that doesn’t work? Maybe our spouse doesn’t want to have sex with us anymore. Maybe we are more attracted to members of the same sex. Maybe no one wants to marry us. Maybe even if we do have good and frequent sex…our carnal nature still desires the forbidden fruit. In our modern culture, many think of their prohibited sexual desire as “who they really are inside,” making it a fundamental part of their identity. This complicates things further.

At this point, we may try to make the desires go away. We want to be good. We want to be chaste. We pray and ask God to change our hearts, to root out this wicked nature. But many find that He just doesn’t do so. He affirms His love for us, His word assures us that He has a plan for us, but He is not yet freeing us from our temptations.

Now we may start to flounder. We try to find a way to justify our sinful desires. Maybe we can use AI, since the scriptures do not have the language to expressly forbid it? Maybe we can go up to a certain point, but no further? Maybe we can be mostly good, but have a little vice, and Jesus will make it right? Maybe we can shift our belief system to say God didn’t actually command what He commanded? We look for anything to have our faith and cheat it, too.

But eventually, our integrity won’t allow us to do that anymore. Sooner or later, we come to the final, necessary choice. Cleave to the desire or cleave to God. Live a life of faith, even if it means accepting that part of us will always be dissatisfied…or choose to live in sin.

When people say they really tried to make their faith work, I believe them. I have no doubt that they really and sincerely tried to make these two incompatible pieces fit. I’ve been there myself. Sooner or later, so has every sincere follower of Jesus. But at some point, we run into the hardest instruction he ever gave us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” (Matthew 16:24).

And maybe we say no. Maybe we embrace “who we are inside,” and cease to follow Jesus. And that reveals who was our true god all along.

Or maybe we do as he says. We deny “who we are inside,” take up the cross of being a broken person who doesn’t quite fit the image of God, and follow Jesus anyway. And that reveals who was our true God all along.

Either way, “choose you this day whom ye will serve,” (Joshua 24:15).