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Original Love - Not Ashamed
The statistics speak for themselves when it comes to human relationships. More than 50% of marriages end in divorce in many countries, providing clear indications that these people did not find what they expected in the relationship. For many who remain in the bonds of marriage, their experience is often just as desolate but they remain because they see no better options or are too afraid to make a change. The waves of disappointment, confusion, frustration, anger and sorrow that result from these toxic experiments in human intimacy can be summed up with a question from a song that arrested my teen attention growing up in the eighties
What is love anyway?
Does anybody love anybody anyway?
In my previous article I addressed this question of “what is love?” by examining what happened when Adam first saw Eve. We recall that when Adam said “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,” he loved her not because of what she possessed in herself but that she had come forth from him and had the capacity to know him, his dreams, joys, aspirations and to be a companion to share his journey. The purity, innocence and freedom of this love is summed up from these words.
Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
The word ashamed in the Hebrew carries the following meaning:
- To be disappointed
- To be delayed meaning to have an expectation unfulfilled
- To be confounded or confused
- To become dry and by implication desolate
What Adam and Eve experienced was everything we desire but nearly always fail to consistently obtain, if at all. The pathway from joy, freedom, fulfilment, innocence and intimacy to disappointment, confusion and desolation is traced in the transaction of taking and eating the fruit that was not theirs to take; this transaction that caused our fall from Agape into Eros.
We need to sift through this Bible story like an archaeologist seeking ancient treasure, carefully brushing away the sands of time to discover the facts of history which then speak meaning into our existence. This love that Adam and Eve shared was carefully constructed and developed by God to ensure their eternal intimacy and happiness. The very origins of our first parents hold the secret to this unashamed love that hid no disappointments. Note carefully the following:
- God created Adam and placed him in the garden. Gen 2:7
- God made Adam steward and sovereign of this paradise. Gen 2:8,15
- God commanded Adam about the tree of life and tree of knowledge. Gen 2:16
- God arranged circumstances to cause Adam to feel need of a companion. Gen 2:20
- God puts Adam to sleep (figuratively the Hebrew word can mean death) Gen 2:21
- God takes Adam’s rib and forms the woman from the living rib. Gen 2:22
- God brings the woman to the resurrected man. Gen 2:22
This sequence is vital to grasp the secret of the unashamed original love of our parents. There was nothing that Eve possessed that she had not received from God through Adam. The singular sovereignty and rulership that Adam possessed was laid to rest and he was resurrected to newness of life with a companion taken from his side. When Adam went to sleep, his heart was full of a desire to open his heart, overflowing with love to someone who could understand him. When he awoke, he beheld one upon whom he could bestow all that he had received and possessed from God. Adam, knowing all this bestows upon the woman all that he has. She has his rib, his DNA, his heart, his home, his garden, everything. She is even aware that Adam went to sleep and gave up part of himself for her[1]. In response the woman sees all that she has been given and as she looks into the eyes of her husband, her heart is filled with gratitude, joy and happiness. The woman lives each moment knowing that all that she possesses was given to her through her husband.
This transaction between the man and woman could be sustained in an eternal motion of love that would overflow like a fountain and that would never be ashamed. The secret, the key, the hub, the pivot, the core, the heart of this wonderful motion of love resides in the simple fact of knowing and remembering your origin and how you came to be. As long as Adam remembered that he was created and placed in the garden as leader and sovereign to care for, protect and be faithful steward of all that is given him, then he would pour all the blessing given him upon that for which he was made sovereign. As the woman receives the fullness of blessing from her husband and looks to him in loving respect, joyful submission and trusting obedience, as she reveals her confidence in his leadership and as she honours his headship, like the woman standing at a well she draws out of his heart far greater blessing than was previously exhibited.
 We might illustrate this love motion through the action of a two piston motor. The first piston Adam, in his joy at finding a true companion, ignites and releases a wave of blessing that sends a wave of ignition fuel into the second piston cavity and at the same time turning the crankshaft which then raises the second piston towards the ceiling which then ignites a loving response which exalts the first piston and fills that cavity with joyful submission, honour and respect. This motion of love then drives the fountain which fills the four rivers that flow forth from the heart of the garden and waters the whole earth. Gen 2:10-14. What a wonderful design! What a wonderful illustration of how the universe works for we were made in the image of God. Gen 1:27.
Again we stress the point that this eternal love motion depended upon each person knowing their origin, knowing their true identity and their place within the creation of God. As long as Adam remembered that he was the head of the garden and remembered that all was under his care and that it was all given to him by God and that it all belonged to God then he would tend and keep that which was given to him; he would continue to pour his blessing on all under his care. As long as Eve remembered that her life came from Adam and that all that she beheld and for which she was now co-ruler with Adam was given to her by her husband by the will of God then she would have completed the circuit of blessing and both of them never would have been ashamed.
[1] This sleep of Adam echoes down through history in the sleep of Abraham that gave birth to the Israelite nation and the sleep of Jesus in the tomb that gave birth to His church also echoes back to the cost to the Father in giving birth to the universe.
New Website
We are happy to annouce the launch of our Geman website www.maranathamedia.de. We hope this will prove a blessing to all our German friends. Please let them know.
Book Translation
In recent months we have had a number of book translation projects completed. We now have Life Matters in Spanish - Un asunto Vital. Please contact us if you would like printed copies of the book. We also have just completed Divine Pattern in Spanish. El Modelo Divino. Next we have published the books Identity Wars and Divine Pattern in Serbian. We are receiving good reports from those reading these books in that country. We have several other translation projects taking place in a range of languages. Please pray that these may be completed soon.
Resources Portal
For anyone that has browsed the Maranatha Media website you would be aware of the thousands of resources available. Gary has been working on a resource portal that offers a more visual access method for many of our resources. Please visit http://www.talkingrocksabbathchapel.com/ and check it out.
Spanish Newsletter
This month we are commencing our Spanish Newletter. If you wish to receive this newsletter please register as a member at www.maranathamedia.net
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