For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 We cannot possibly imagine life within the perfect vocation Adam and Eve were given in the Garden of Eden – created in the image of God they were called to have dominion over all created things and they were called to be fruitful and multiply. What great “work” – no weeds, animals that came to them to be named, and each other to “play” and procreate in the freedom of perfection! We can only begin to have a glimpse of that perfection as we live out our re-created life in Christ Jesus.  As we live under the weight of Adam and Eve’s sin and our own “trespassing” into areas in which we don’t belong, we can hope for that which is to come and live in the promise of today – freedom IN Christ.

Here is Adam and Eve’s call:  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Genesis 1:26-28

Genesis 2 gives us more information from a different perspective, Moses’ NEWK-IT! too!  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.  These two sentences are so important for the discussion of marriage, our sexuality and our expression of very being in sex with our spouse.  First, Adam and Eve were married because God gave them to one another with the command to hold fast to one another in his one-flesh design.  Second, God gave them the holy vocation, the permission, the “job” to be one flesh according to his design.  Third, according to God’s gifts, they were naked and felt no shame. 

Sin entered the picture, unfortunately for all of us!!! Adam and Eve felt they could do better than the perfection God had created for them so they decided to help him along a bit.  Their feelings led to their fall; their help led to their helplessness; their incremental method led to complete failure.  Their perfect freedom of vocation and expression – naked expression of self and dominion over animals was tainted forever by sin. They hid. They lied. They covered themselves. They blamed. They were ashamed. The perfect relationships they had with God and with one another were gone in an instant. They wrecked things for all of us.

Only in the mercy and forgiveness of Christ Jesus are our relationships restored.  Are we free with and for our spouse?  If not, don’t blame each other and get caught up playing the game Adam and Eve invented.  Blame Adam and Eve and Satan, it is their fault.  Then, rest in Christ’s mercy with your spouse for the things that are their fault and your own fault. Remember that your spouse is broken and needs the Savior just as you do. Re-learn how to be with one another and live according to God’s design – to be naked together and feel no shame.  Wives, be open, loving, receiving, and life-giving.  Husbands, be open, loving, protective and life-giving. 

We are called to live our vocations fully and completely in Christ. We have been re-created with a new nature IN Christ, to bring wholeness, health and healing to our family, our community and our world – it must begin with spouses bringing wholeness and healing to one another.  If you live this wholeness, be a mentor.  If you wrestle with this area or are afraid of this area reach out to a person of the same sex to help guide you into wholeness. If you live in a marriage that is completely unhealthy with abuse, alcoholism or affairs, reach out to a trusted counselor or friend to get healthy. It is hard, but it is good to get back on track and live according to God’s design.

May God grant us courage to live out our callings where we’ve been called. Blessings IN Christ, Cindy

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