Sex God by Rob Bell

So I’ve had this book by Rob Bell sitting on my night stand for several months now.  The first time I tried to read Sex God, I just couldn’t get into it.  I’m not exactly sure why.  I think part of it was that I was trying to read all of Rob’s interesting end notes along with reading the book.  I think this may have prevented me from getting into the flow of Bell’s most recent book.

If you’ve read Velvet Elvis (his first book) or seen any of the Nooma videos, you know that Rob Bell has an interesting way of connecting life to God.  I’ve always been blown away by his creativity and his ability to help people connect to the creator of the universe.  Sex God fits right into this mold.

When I finally gave it a second chance (without reading all the interesting end notes), I finally got into it.  In Rob Bell’s unique style, God uses sex and marriage to point people to God.  You’ll have to read it to see more about what I mean, but I’ll leave you with one quote that from the epilogue that nails it for me.

I finish with this story because life is messy.  Gut wrenching.  Risky.  Things don’t always turn out well.  Sometimes they don’t turn out at all.  Sometimes everything falls apart and we wonder if there’s any point to any of it.  We’re tempted to shut ourselves off, fortify the walls around our hearts, and forge ahead, promising ourselves that we will never open ourselves up like that again.

But I have to believe that we can recover from anything.  I have to believe that God can put anything – anyone – back together.  I have to believe that the God Jesus invites us to trust is as good as he says he is.

Loving.

Forgiving.

Merciful.

Full of grace.

Sex God was worth the read.  (Next, I’m looking forward to reading Mark Batterson’s new book – Primal –   I’m expecting an early copy in the mail any day.)