Episode Details

Prayer

O Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, You have fashioned man from dust and breathed into him the breath of life; teach us now to understand your purposes. Give us wisdom to discern your design, humility to submit to it, and courage to walk in it. Let the image of Christ—the true Man—be ever before our eyes, shaping our thoughts, correcting our errors, and guiding our steps. May our learning today bear fruit to your glory, and may we learn more to obey and submit to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reading

Genesis 2:18-20.

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

Meditation

As we’ve been pondering God’s original design for men, and in lead up to thinking about his creation of the woman, we’ve got one more set of things to consider – and today’s meditation will be very application heavy! Do you remember what we learned when we studied Day 6 of creation? (see our much earlier studies in the Genesis prologue for a reminder!). We learned three key things:

* That God created man in his own image,

* That man defiled that image,

* And—importantly—that Christ restores God’s image in man.

Colossians 1:15 tells us that Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Likewise, Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

From the beginning, Christ has always been preeminent in the Father’s design for manhood. Adam was a type of the one who was to come, and Christ is the image to which we are now being conformed. In this, we see clearly: Christ is the pattern of manhood. What does this mean for our every day lives? Some final thoughts in closing this subject…

Be doers of the word….

First application: Live to Imitate Christ. Now, there’s a great application here for both men and women.

Men, let me speak to you first. Have you ever wondered what it means to be a man? Have you felt that deep desire to be a man of God? Maybe you’ve wished you had more older men to look up to. Let me tell you something. Being a man is not about how much weight you can bench press. It’s not about how thick and lustrous your beard is. It’s not about your bow-hunting skills. Being a man is about Christ. To become the men we’re called to be, we must constantly look to Christ. We must make it our aim to look up to him, to follow him, to imitate him. That’s how we truly learn what it means to be a man.

Ladies, let me speak to you for a moment. Men and women are united in the image of God. In a real sense, marriage itself is a picture of that union and image. And so, imitating Christ applies just as much to you as it does to men. You too must pursue Christlikeness and be conformed to his image—because the bride, the Church, is called to be like her husband, who is Christ.

But let me also give a particular word of encouragement to you as women. Do you ever find yourself wishing there were more real men in the world? Do you long for men to stop acting like boys? Then let me encourage you: point your men to Christ.Encourage your husbands in Christ. As a helpmeet, that may be the most powerful help you can offer. If you want your husband to be more of a real man, the best thing you