Locked out of heaven

It has words like 'testify', 'born again', and 'sinner', but it's not the Bible, it's Bruno Mars.

Locked out of heaven by Bruno Mars has been a number 1 hit song for most of January. The lyrics reflect a world that has rejected God and tried to fill the void with other stuff. For when we take God out the picture, we often look to the things around us to replace the 'God space' in our lives. Sex has become that for many in our world today.

Check out the “religious” language ascribed to sex in Locked out of Heaven:

But swimming in your world is something spiritual
I'm born again every time you spend the night

Cause your sex takes me to paradise
Yeah your sex takes me to paradise
And it shows, yeah, yeah, yeah
Cause you make feel like, I've been locked out of heaven
For too long, for too long
Yeah you make feel like, I've been locked out of heaven
For too long, for too long

You bring me to my knees
You make me testify
You can make a sinner change his ways
Open up your gates cause I can't wait to see the light

It’s almost as if Bruno read his Bible for inspiration for this song. Pop culture so often rejects Christianity, but is happy to steal its language.

The truth is, sex is good, but it is not God. Sex is good, but it is not heaven.

Our world says you’ll never feel as good as you will when you are having sex. The Bible says sex is good, but feelings won’t last forever, and that there is much more to sex than just feelings.

We really are locked out of heaven

By nature, we actually have been 'locked out of heaven' - we are shut off from our relationship with the Living God. The reason we have been locked out of heaven is our sin; our swapping the worship of God our Creator, with worship of stuff in creation (ourselves, sex, money, power, etc.). What “unlocks” heaven for us is the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is by repenting and believing in Him that we enter a heavenly relationship with God.

God doesn’t want you to remain locked out of heaven. That’s why he gave us the gift of Jesus. And God also gave us the gift of sex to enjoy. And the best way to enjoy it is His way, in a beautiful, lifelong, committed, exclusive marriage.

So you may have to wait a while to experience the joy of sex (unless you are already married), but please don’t wait to experience the joy of heaven!

As Jesus said: