This isn't a blog series about separating what I want with what God wants. This blog series about understanding they're the same. A few quick passages to just set the standard:
"Delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalms 34:7 (Aka: we've got new desires, the old evil ones have died, the new ones are good.)
"The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one." -John 17:22, see also v20-26
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." - Gal 2:20a
So Christ and I's desires become one, as my old self has been killed and I delight in Him, they become one just like Jesus prayed for - and who is Jesus to not get what He prays for? It was His plan from the beginning.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." - Gen 1:27
Love & Respect
I first started taking note of this during "Relationship Week" last week when I realized that men want to be respected and women want to be loved. (We've all heard that before, maybe.) Women want to be loved and cared for and shown affection, but men would rather be respected and well thought of. If we don't understand why, women can think men are arrogant and prideful and men can think women are needy and clingy.
Here's why though. Gen 1:27. Being made in the image of God, God created both genders to show His desires and needs as well. God wants to be both respected and well thought of (as shown in the by defending His people and His name in the OT and His high code for Holiness) and He wants to be loved and adored (as shown by calling us His bride, and pouring out love and affection towards us then asking for it in return.)
I feel that many churches do a good job of giving God one of the two.
A-Some churches know the fear of God and they know how great and high and mighty He is. They can tell you vast numbers that try to explain His size and our galaxy's size. They'll explain the OT and His raw power and might and bring up passage about falling down with fear and trembling before Him. They have very clean respectful churches and want to wear their "Sunday Best" in before God to His Holy House. They do an excellent job of respecting God as a supreme being and ruler.
B- Other churches know the intimate heart of God and how it beats. They will talk about "Daddy God" or "Papa God." They will explain how they were talking to God about bubble gum flavors and His idea for new inventions made out of clouds. They'll talk about cuddling up in Daddy God's lap and laying their head on His chest. They'll use Song of Solomon and John to explain the intimate affection that God/Jesus brought and that we can have. Their church services are more relaxed and free flowing fun. They enjoy God as a lover and as a Daddy and do an excellent job of loving God.
Unfortunately, sometimes Type A churches will look at Type B churches as irreverent, blasphemous, and just too girly to be actually worshiping the true God of the Bible. They may accuse them of being more "new age" Christianity rather than the real "Bible Believing Church" they are. Type B Churches will look at Type A, and call them cold, distant, and dying. They may accuse them of living out of the Old Covenant and still trying to work their way to God rather then enjoying the freedom of Christ to run to God. I've noticed Type A churches tend to have more old school (rough and tough) masculine leadership, where Type B churches have either masculine (not the rough and tough kind) of leadership or more female leadership.
Basically, Type A churches show off God's desires to be respected and Type B churches show off God's desire to be loved. Great Job! ...except...there's a reason He made man AND women. They were to become one, compliment each other, and display a fuller view of God. Ironically, that's why one of Jesus' last prayers before the cross was "make [the Church] one, as we are one." So just like men don't fully understand love or their desire to be loved, and women don't fully understand respect or their desire to be respected until men and women interact with each other and get married, so too doesn't the Church fully understand the other side of God's desire to be Loved AND Respected by His children. I think, this helps unify the whole Bible more and understand it well.
God commanded us to both fear Him and love Him. Without respecting how BIG and Holy God is, we will make Him into our own powerless, do whatever we want teddy bear; without loving God as intimate and careful we will make Him into a "being" out there rather than an intimate Father who interacts with us. We can have all the power or we can have the closeness, but without having both you have a lifeless teddy bear or a distant power who doesn't care. Thankfully, we have a God who created time and physics and who ripped time in half by sending His son to be clothed in human flesh to come near to the rebellious people He loved. This same Son, Jesus commanded seas and storms, trees and ruling authorities before allowing a teenage boy to lay back against His breast and rest at dinner time. The Jesus who destroyed and stripped all evil and death of it's power with His bare hands and voice, then put on a royal robe and threw the most romantic wedding ever in the history of time. He's a warrior and a poet, a conqueror and an encourager, the creator of galaxies and the holder of tears - He is God. He is both tough and tender. He desires to be loved and respected both.
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