Real Marriage_ The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together - Mark Driscoll [4]
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Can you imagine being onstage in front of thousands of people, answering the most intimate questions about sex and relationships? That’s where I (Grace) found myself a couple of years ago when my husband was preaching the Song of Solomon to our church. At the end of his teaching, I would join Mark onstage, where we’d sit as members of the congregation texted us their questions, which would appear on a big screen next to us. We took turns answering everything from “How long should I wait for my boyfriend to commit to me?” to “Why should I stop sleeping with my girlfriend when we’ve been together for five years?”
I had prayed for months about whether I should join Mark onstage for this. What if someone asks me something too embarrassing to answer? What if I say something that sounds foolish? Will people think Mark and I are claiming to know all the answers? In the end, I made the decision to step out in faith. No, we don’t know all the answers, but we have studied for years what God says on the subjects of sex and marriage. And we have certainly learned a lot the hard way. Like many, we entered marriage with a load of habits, secrets, and preconceptions that could have killed our marriage.
For me, the seeds for the potential destruction of my marriage were planted as a child. As a pastor’s kid, I gave in to the pressure to pretend that everything was perfect and avoided looking sinful. Unfortunately, it is common for pastors’ kids to believe they can’t be themselves for fear of ruining the ministry of the church somehow. We often practiced the “silent treatment” when we were upset, rather than dealing with sin issues kindly and honestly, so I learned to hide my sin from my parents and others. I was also afraid of the conflict and exposure it would take to resolve it. I had the misconception that Christianity was just having good values and acting right on the “outside,” but I didn’t understand true heart-changing repentance. I often felt shame when I sinned but didn’t know how to get past it by confessing the sin, asking God and the other person I sinned against to forgive me, receiving that forgiveness, and asking Jesus to help me turn from that sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.
My oldest sister and I had a rough relationship growing up, and I remember often saying I was sorry, but don’t recall really feeling bad that I had hurt her. It was more like a script I read to move on or get out of my bedroom “time-out.” Now when I sin I actually feel the impact of sinning against a holy God and whoever else might be involved, which is prompted by the Holy Spirit. If I had understood the gospel more deeply, I would have known that repentance keeps shame from condemning us because Jesus died and scorned the shame.a
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Though repentance is humbling, there is such a freedom in allowing Jesus to replace sin with His free gift of righteousness. Sadly, I became great at lying and pretending I was a good person. I didn’t fully understand my sin nature and need for Jesus to die for my sins. Upon entering junior high, I still lacked confidence and went through two very awkward years believing I had no value. Even though I was a Christian, I still didn’t realize my identity needed to be founded on God creating me in His image and Jesus gifting me with His righteousness. I did well in school and started to make friends, thinking I was doing better, but not giving credit to God for giving me those abilities. That’s when I met a handsome young man named Mark.
I (Mark) was raised in a very rough neighborhood near the airport in Seattle before it was incorporated as a city.