It Takes Two...To Reflect One

August 22, 2021

Pastor Ken Brown Jr

Hi, this is pastor Ken and this is my Monday Marriage Message…It Takes Two This week we are going to continue to extract truths from the same base scripture we have been looking at for the past several weeks. Just to refresh our memories allow me to read it to you again. Genesis 1:26,27 reads; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. In the past two weeks we have considered two different truths from this scripture. Truth #1 – The oneness of the Trinity is the standard for the oneness given to us in our marriages. Truth #2 – God created marriage as the way that we can more fully reflect His holiness. This week I want to examine a third truth – God had to create both a man and a woman to have something capable of reflecting His many characteristics. As we noted last week, there is more to God than we will ever know. His word does allude to many of His characteristics. Some of those qualities are more readily found in man than they are in woman. Some of those qualities are present in the female but not in the male. Normally we see God as male because He is almost always referred to in His word with male pronouns. But there are many attributes of God that we find only exhibited in women. In fact, one of the names for God, El Shaddai, that we have translated to mean Almighty God who provides, may be a bit of a misnomer. Scofield’s reference notes states; The qualifying word Shaddai is formed from the Hebrew word "shad," the breast, invariably used in Scripture for a woman's breast. This means that the name El Shaddai actually means the almighty breasted one who makes provision. The one who provides what we need as a mother provides nourishment for her child. The point here isn’t if God is more male or more female, Jesus said He is Spirit. The point is that He is so great, so all encompassing, that neither man nor woman of their own accord, not even if they were perfect, would be capable of reflecting all of His attributes. God created both male and female so together they might be more capable of comprehensively reflecting who He is and what His capabilities are. One of the easiest ways to see this is with the capability to create life. God can create life all on His own. In fact, that is what we have been considering for the past three weeks. Can man create life all on his own? Of course not. Can woman create life all on her own? The answer again is no. Though women do the bulk of the work when it comes to bringing new life into the world, (and ladies we as men are incredibly grateful for that). Women are still unable to create life independent of a man. However, when a man and a woman are both present, are they capable of creating life as God can? Yes! Interestingly, most men and women do not balk at the differences they possess that allow them to create life. Most of the time, in fact, they celebrate those differences. I am unashamedly happy that my wife’s body is different than mine! I think she, too, enjoys the fact that I am different than she is, physically speaking. About the only time I might wish she were built like I am is when we are trying to move something that is too heavy for the muscle structure God created her to have. Other than those few and far between occurrences, we celebrate the fact that we have been created so differently. While we appreciate the physical differences we have apart from our spouse, the differences do not end there, but often our appreciation does. As I said, God has many, many characteristics that as men and women we reflect. Some are able to be reflected in both genders, some are individually specific to one gender or the other. When we begin to lack appreciation for those qualities we do not personally possess, trouble begins to arise. We will look further into some of the differences we have as men and women that are individually reflective of our creator in the podcasts to come. For the purposes of this edition it is important only that we recognize that God created both male and female, and that the purpose for that goes much farther than procreation alone. Though that ability does allow for our reflection of one of God’s attributes, it is but one. Questions to Answer: 1. What other attributes of God do you think we are to reflect that might be gender specific? 2. If your spouse has an attribute that reflects one of God’s, but you don’t possess or even understand the importance of it, are they right or wrong to display it? 3. If you are truly “one flesh” as Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapter 19, and your spouse displays an attribute of God’s that you do not possess…are you also then endowed with that attribute? Actions to Take: 1. Try to find evidence of your answers to the first question above in God’s word. 2. Celebrate the physical differences – tell your spouse what physical differences the two of you have that you particularly appreciate and why. 3. Thank God for the differences that you and your spouse possess and ask Him to help you appreciate the ones you may not even be aware of yet. 4. Begin praying daily – in other words for the rest of your life, for your marriage. Pray that it will be all that God wants it to be. Pray that you will be open to anything God wants to teach you about your marriage that you may not have already known. Pray that your spouse will be blessed by you as you try your best to reflect the characteristics of God that He has created you to display. So now, looking forward to finding the blessing in all of your differences…Go Be Awesome!