The Image of God - part 1 of ??

To write this entry is to grapple with an impossible question: why did mankind come to be? This question is as old as humanity itself. But I think that a facet of this answer - a tiny sliver - lies in the husband and wife and the parent and child relaionships. Both are ways in which we show that we are the image of God, for both are aspects of how He acts. This entry will touch on the first kind of relationship.

I will only be able to skim the surface here. I realize what I am up against, first because I have never been married and therefore cannot write about that relationship from my own experiences, and second because even the wisest of mankind cannot figure out how love works. Even Agur - who wrote Prov. 30 and therefore must have been pretty wise - writes below in verses 18-19:

"There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:

the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden."

If a writer of Proverbs confesses himself lost, what hope do I have? I write about things I have no hope of understanding.

Genesis 2:24 states that the very reason we leave home is to marry. I think that deep down, the seed of the hope for a spouse is within us when we leave home - it is a part of being an adult. We may go to college to learn about a profession or a trade, but very few of us leave home solely with those thoughts in mind. We learn a trade because we hope that it will be a satisfying way to pay the bills, not because it will satisfy our deeper needs. The "gift of singleness" - that of lifelong devotion to Christ alone - is granted to few.

Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 in Ephesians 5:31-32. He ackowledging the divine mystery, and he adds, "but I am talking about Christ and the church."

The marriage allegory is helpful, but doesn't answer all my questions. We live in an imperfect world, and there is a lot of fear and confusion from both genders. Confusion follows us before we even get out the gate. For example, the question of who should ask whom out on a date receives varied responses, even in the church. Who leads, and who follows? Is there value for a woman in being pursued, and should men bother pursuing? Who's on first? This mess of confusion is less like Christ and the church and more like an Abbott and Costello routine.

I take comfort in knowing that God sought us out from the beginning. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that God has us in mind before we were even a glimmer in our parents' eyes. Before our parents' parents' parents. His love for us - for me - was real and true before time began.

He sought us out by leaving home to look for us. * He stripped Himself of his majesty because He knew His glory would overwhelm us (Ex. 33:20). Even though so much would go wrong in us (Romans 5:8), He learned obedience as a son and then proved His love by giving up what is most precious. He was so overcome by love that He would rather sacrifice Himself than to live for an eternity without us.

He sought us with vigor, like the shepherd seeks one lost sheep out of 100, like one lost coin out of perhaps a pile full - for a lost person retains the value of a found person.

He seeks us out as a betrothed. He puts an engagement ring on our finger. The most important question we will ever be asked, is "Do you take Me to be your Savior?" The moment we say "I do," He puts a ring on our finger; He seals us with the promise of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). And oh, how that ring sparkles! He's fixing up a beautiful house to live in together forever (John 14:3). That is pure, single-minded pursuit. That is the altar call - to be the bride of Christ.

As for how that answers the "image of God" question, I think part of how we show that we are the image of God is acting like He acts. We show that we are the image of God **when our men love and treasure women like Christ loves the church, and women honor men and trust their leadership as the church honors God and follows His lead (Ephesians 5:22-33). I may spend my life learning what that means.

* I'd also recommend Kierkegaard's Parable of a King and a Maiden. Powerful stuff.
** I've heard verse 21 quoted as a justification for an egalatarian marriage. I just don't buy it; the rest of the text doesn't seem to bear it out. Verse 22 seems to be a divider to me - Paul is shifting topics to general church business to something more specific.