April 29, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5.10; 28-30, 32)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Here in Louisville, we are inundated with the evidence of geese. So, it is easy for me to say “What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Now a gander, as you well know, is the male goose. Webster’s dictionary also includes another identity; that of a “simpleton.” In other words, this shouldn’t be rocket science to us as we take a gander at “reading between the lines.” The lines I am speaking of and reflecting upon tomorrow are verses 29, 31 and 33. It would mean that their meaning ought to be simple for us to understanding, comprehend and implement. The success of doing so is dependent on verses 30 and 32, which say, “…for we are members of His body. It is a profound mystery easily grasped because I am speaking of Christ and the Church.” As much as men would love to promote themselves as self-sufficent and a “stand alone” guy, nothing could be further from the truth. The evidence of that again is revealed first in the Book of Genesis. As Adam began to catalogue all the life, especially the animals, in the Garden of Eden by a name he gave to them (so blame Adam if you don’t think a giraffe should be called a giraffe instead of say- long neck), he noticed they were coming passed him in pairs. In each pair there was a distinctive difference; and you thought biology class was not important. What he noticed was that he did not have his significant other who was his distinctive different but very much the same. God saw that it was not good for man, Adamah, to be alone. It was not a reflection on a lack of relationship Adamah had with Yahweh Elohim, Jehovah. It was the fact that the spiritual relationship between God and Adamah was the best relationship of all but not fully nor completely meeting Adamah’s perceived need. That need would become a want if left unattended. God attended the need, and as we hear from David’s “Shepherd Psalm,” no want shall I know. Why should I “want” if I have all that I need. This became the inroad for Satan’s opportunity to challenge God with his own creation. Satan created a perceived need which either God “did not want them to know about” or one God “did not think was needed.” Isn’t that the way our confrontation with sin usually works? Suddenly we “want” what we don’t have and commit ourselves to believing that we need it. The fallacy of such thinking is that we then “know better” than God what is best for us. In the end, it comes down to a matter of choice. God’s word to His people in the Garden wasn’t a threat but a warning. He gave them the freedom to choose how best to respond to the warning. In the lack of enough information to make such a decision, in this case- don’t do it, Satan began to create scenarios of opportunities that did not otherwise exist. Even if they did, the most important decision of all was “don’t do it.” You don’t have to know why. You only need to know God’s love is sufficient to meet all yours needs so that you, or is that “ewe,” have no want. Wouldn’t that be bliss? To have all we need and have no need to want? How many of our pursuits are things we have convinced ourselves we want to the point of need only to find that we really didn’t need them and now don’t want them? That’s life, mighty ones of God…and everyone else, too.

Let’s return to the “geese,” shall we. In the midst of so great a cloud of witnesses, I am laughing, let me revisit a well-known saying “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” In the case presented by Paul to those in Ephesus the goose is both the wife and the Church. Uniquely, however, in the realm of the Kingdom of God and thus in spirit language, the goose is also the earthly husband who is, as is his wife, a member of the Church- the body of Christ. Thus, Christ is ministering to both husband and wife in the life of the Church and through them to all the world. The “two shall be as one” become the greater picture of the two becoming as one. In algebraic terms it would be m+f=1 for our human relationships in this world; but if would be (m+f) + C = 1 in the kingdom relationship in the world. Perhaps it would even be (m+f)C equals more than we could imagine otherwise. We are exponentially more powerful with Christ. Thus, Paul’s declaration that “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us,” is best understood in this light. So, what a joy to know that Jesus as our Christ is committed to love us explicitly to meet the needs of our lives which serve God and others best. He is for us as we ought to be for others. It really isn’t a mystery at all how we should authentically love one another.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.