"Passionate Housewives," pt 12

 [Caution: Tough teaching ahead in the next few days.  Have your hearts and your Bibles open…!]

A Sacred Calling of Purpose and Victory, pt.1

[In this section, Stacy McDonald outlines the roles God gave to Adam and Eve.  God Created Adam, placed him in the Garden of Eden, and commissioned him to tend it.  God instructed Adam to name all the animals, and Adam realized that “there was not found a helper comparable to him” Genesis 2:18.  God did not intend to keep it that way, so answered Adam’s deep need and created Eve.  God commissioned Adam and Eve to]:

“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28

[Stacy goes on to say]:

God could have simply raised up a woman from the dust of the earth – an independent creature who could keep Adam company and even partner with him in subduing the earth by pursuing equal and separate ventures.  Yet He instead caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and from man’s own rib God fashioned his glorious completer – woman.  (1Corinthians 11:7-9)

Eve was Adam’s perfect complement, his crowning glory; she was created for the express purpose of completing and helping him to take dominion of God’s creation.  They were now one flesh for as long as they both should live (Matthew 19:6) – “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7).

…within this covenant God provides a vivid picture of Christ and His beloved Bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:23-33), and reveals to us volumes about the husband-wife relationship.

In serving as her husband’s helper, a wife performs many valuable roles.  She is to be his solitary lover (Gen. 2:24; Song of Sol. 4; Prov. 5:19), his counselor (Prov. 31:26; 1 Kings 1:16-21), and his closest friend (1 Peter 3:17; Eph. 5:33).  She has the unique honor of mothering his children (Gen. 1:28, 3:20, 24:60) and keeping the home (Prov. 31:27; 1 Tim. 5:14; Titus 2:4-5).  In all of her tasks, she seeks to further him as a man. His work of dominion is her work; she embraces his vision as her own as she promotes and enhances his life pursuits.


[Stay tuned...it get's a little tougher.]  ;-)