Human beings were created in God’s image which means that we are relational beings. After each day of creation we read, “And God saw that it was good”. But after the creation of humans it is “very good”. After the repetition of this phrase in Genesis 1 we are jolted, in Genesis 2:18, by the phrase, “It is not good…” The text is making an emphatic point here about human beings: we are relational creatures created for relationships, first with God and then with each other. Because of this “it is not good that the man should be alone”. Given the theological nature of this text, this is not just a statement about a man. It is saying something about human beings in general. We are profoundly connected with each other inasmuch as we are connected with God. We are each other’s “helper” (a term also used to describe what God is to us: Psalms 46:1 & 54:4). The strange story of the creation of Eve in 2:21-22 is actually a brilliant piece of narrative theology. It is saying something profound about human connectedness and mutual dependence, a point that is picked up in Paul’s notion of us being “one body” in 1 Corinthians 12:12ff. The male-female marriage relationship is a sacred symbol and expression of this unity in diversity, as well as the foundational building block of human community. But whether or not you are married, you are part of a body of Christ. This means that you belong to others and others to you. What is in you is for them, and God has put things in them for you. Life is about other people.
Ask God how he wants to use you to bless others starting with your closest relationships.
Read Genesis 2:18-25 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:13
