Divine Design

Love.  True Love.  Everlasting Love. Unconditional Love.  Pursuing Love.  It’s what we live for.  John Donne wrote, “No man is an island…” Although written in the 17th century Donne’s popular poetic phrase rings of a truth that began at creation: no person is designed to be alone.  We are all in need of connection and each connection, although different, has a purpose.   A love relationship was the cause of our first breath.

This post is an introduction into an ongoing look at the Purpose of Relationships.  I have added a category titled “Purpose of Relationships” so you can follow the teachings in this series.  However they will also be listed in the “Tablets to Run With” category.  I hope you enjoy and learn as much as I have in preparing them.  

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

In the midst of speaking this magnificent universe into existence, Almighty God made one being above all others.  Man was made in the very image of God.  He was made to be like a shadow or a reflection of Himself.  God provided everything for man, named Adam, to discover his Creator.  However, designed to bring God glory, man was found to be incomplete.  God created the universe and said that it was good. He created man and said that it was also good.  The World was untainted, Adam was pure and his relationship with his Creator was personal but God said that something was missing from man on the Earth.  He said,

It is not good for the man to be alone. Genesis 2:18a

I believe the trait that was missing from man was a certain depth of intimacy in his relationship with God. Adam was learning about God, about His Creativity, His Kindness, His Wisdom, His Dominion but he was missing something.  There was an aspect of God he could not see.  Although God knew it would be futile, a search was made on the Earth for a creature that would be suitable for the task of helping man understand the Creator and the depth of His Love but none was found.  Therefore, God created a companion for Adam, her name was Eve.   Man needed a relationship with another person made in the image of God.  Without this other relationship mankind lacked knowledge and understanding about his Creator.

Let me explain: God always had relationship within Himself; intimacy with the Trinity of Himself, fellowship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Man was not as complex a creature since he was made only to be one person.  So God created a like creature for man to have relationship.  Man was designed to discover and intimately know the Almighty God but he couldn’t do it alone.  He needed Eve, a third person if you will.  He needed to have at least one triangle of relationship: God, Adam and Eve, like a trinity.

(Hopefully this is making sense and you’re as excited as I am.  Like I said this is an introduction.  A foundation actually and all the little pieces fit together one on top of the other.  Keep reading!  If you’re not excited yet you will be!)

The creator God is a vast, dynamic, incomprehensible being.  His glory is inexpressible. Building on what we discovered about Abel’s blood last week I would like to suggest that we are all created with an unique ‘implant’ from God.  Knit into each one of us is a piece of His glory.  Each one a different piece because one person alone cannot contain the entirety of God’s glory.  The more we walk as who we are called to be and the more we live in our destiny the more we place His Glory on display (2 Corinthians 3:18 – more on this in another post.)  C.S. Lewis put it this way:

There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs’, all different, will still be too few to express Him fully.”  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) p.225

When we are in relationship a dynamic happens that cannot exist when we are alone.  I am not saying that alone we can’t have relationship with God, nor know him intimately.  I am not saying that if we were stranded on a deserted island we would be unable to find and know God.  But I am suggesting that there are aspects of God we cannot know unless we are in relationships.  Adam needed Eve.  You might say Adam was even created to need Eve, that we are created to need each other.  In fact, that IS what I am saying.  We NEED each other.  We need relationships and connections and love – it’s part of our divine design!  We need each other to better know God, to know ourselves and to know our purpose.

Because this is a post and not a book – and I could keep going and going – I’ll stop here for now.  I hope you will continue to follow these teachings as I add more on this topic. As always your feedback (or questions) are appreciated.