Did you ever notice how your hands make a heart if you bring them together, by connecting the thumbs at the bottom and curving your fingers inward? But you only have the full heart when you bring them both together. I think humans are the same way, not with our own hearts, but with God's.
Genesis 1.26, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." The word "our" here supports the idea of the triune God. We are made in the image of a God who is constantly in community and in relationship since before time began, and therefore, if we are made in the image of a communal and relational God, we ourselves were created for relationships and community.
Genesis 1.27, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created him." So here we see something amazing. God makes us in His image but we only have part of his image. As a men we posses the strong, warrior masculine heart of God. The part of God that is dangerous. Women have the tender, loving feminine heart of God, the part of God that is gentle. So both genders are created in the image of God, but not fully in an individual do we contain the full heart of God. Only when a man and woman come together in a marriage covenant do they both bring their half of the heart of God and together show the complete image of God.
I think the most crucial part of this though, is that both individual members must be whole and complete in themselves first, whole and complete in who God created them to be. As a man, I must know who I am in the heart of God. I have to be complete in who God has created me to be before I can ever join my heart to the corresponding half. My future wife will not be able to complete me because she simply can't. She cannot complete my half of the heart of God because she is not created in the same part of the image of God that I am. She will compliment and correspond to my half, literally she will match it, but she cannot complete it. And in the same way my heart cannot complete hers because I don't posses that part of the image of God. Only when two people who are whole and complete in who God created them to be, enter into a marriage can they melt their hearts into the whole heart of God, only then is the image complete.
During the last few weeks there has been a question on my mind. "How can I be full and complete in God, but at the same time have such a longing and desire to be with someone else? If I am satisfied with God why do I have the need for more?" I think the answer is found in Genesis 2.18, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a suitable helper for him." As I said at the beginning, we were made in the image of a relational God, we were made to join our hearts together, we were made to compliment and correspond to one another. Only when we bring our whole and complete heart into a relationship, into a marriage covenant, do we have the full heart of God.
I didn't plan to go this direction at the beginning, but I believe that this is why marriage was designed to be between a man and woman. Only then do you have both halves of the image of God. Only then is the heart of God made complete in our human relationships. I believe that is is why God hates divorce, because it literally breaks his heart.
Only together do we have the full heart of God. But only when both members are full and complete in who God created them to be can the two halves contribute to the whole.
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