In the beginning God created…and it was good. Then sin
entered the world. Suddenly, what had been good was now less than good. Damaged. Broken. In this series we will explore what the Bible has to say about sex, gender, singleness and marriage and how God’s design for human flourishing really is good.
“Why, oh why…” it’s the question we all ask. For centuries, humans have created stories to help them explain the ‘whys’ of life. From Greek mythology to children’s fairy tales, Aesop’s fables to a good country song… we love a story that help us make sense of the world. The problem is, sometimes the stories we hear contradict each other. We get mixed messages and conflicting information. Is there any story that will help us make sense of the chaos? A story that we can know for sure is really, truly true?
According to Mother Goose, little boys are made of frogs, snails and puppy dog tails, while girls are a combination of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Though the nursery rhyme sounds sweet, it subtly reinforces long-held, unhelpful stereotypes. What does it mean to be a boy or girl, a man or woman? Does anybody really know?
A picture is worth a thousand words… or so the saying goes. We also use phrases like, ‘picture this…’ or ‘do you get the picture?’ Pictures can help us understand things in ways that words can’t. It helps to have an example to look at! It’s why children’s books come with illustrations and IKEA directions come with diagrams! Visible representations can help us understand concepts better. God knows this about us; so He’s given us pictures that can help us understand more about Himself… pictures like marriage and singleness.
Everyone wants to be wanted… to be needed and known, to have a deep sense of belonging. We were designed for intimacy. But in our culture, the word ‘intimacy’ has become synonymous with sex. And though it can be used to describe a physical relationship, intimacy is much more multifaceted than we typically acknowledge. An intimate relationship is one that is characterized by warmth, connection, understanding and grace. And we can experience all of those things outside of a sexual relationship. That’s the kind of healthy intimacy we were created to experience – with God and with each other. Intimacy is the gift of belonging.
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