Simply Christian - Chapter 3

Made for Each Other

Chapter 3 deals with relationships. I definitely need help in the area of relationships. Wright states, “…we all know that we belong in communities, that we were made to be social creatures. Yet there are many times when we are tempted to slam the door and stomp off into the night by ourselves, simultaneously making the statement that we don’t belong anymore and that we want someone to take pity on us, to come to the rescue and comfort us.” I don’t know about you but knowing that I belong in a community is much easier for me than actually taking part in a community. I have trouble being in a group and actually being part of the group, not just a bystander. I feel like I need to be asked to be part of something, I have trouble just jumping in.

Wright also deals with sexual identity, maleness and femaleness; how people today seem to be at one end of the scale (denying that there is a difference between males and females other than biologically) or at the other end of the scale (looking at every member of the opposite sex as a potential partner). Where exactly is the middle ground? How does one embrace their sexual identity without crossing the line into flirtatious behavior? I know I seem to bounce between the two extremes, how do I balance myself out?

There is also the fact that even the best relationship will eventually end in death, the laughter will end in tears. “We know it; we fear it; but there’s nothing we can do about it.” Doesn’t this tie in with our rebellion from our Creator? We were created to be in relationship. God created Adam and Eve and walked and talking with them in the Garden of Eden. Yet Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To this day we still rebel; some of us more than others. Therefore we have a broken relationship with our Creator. If we have a broken relationship with the One who created us, how can we have a whole relationship with anyone else?