For This Cause

Genesis 2:4-25 (NRSV)

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up-- for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground--

-- then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."

So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, 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. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field;

... but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken."

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

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For This Cause

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. – Genesis 2:24

Everyone needs a cause – especially men.

There are adventures to face and battles to fight if we will embrace them and we need them to reach our fullest manhood under God. But the first cause is the one we find all the way back in Genesis. It is the cause that is romantic and dangerous, and is the drama that fills the pages of great novels. It is the cause to leave home and be joined to a wife, to fashion out of two, one flesh and to build a home, a family, and a life together.

God has called us to two altars in this life.

First is altar of total commitment of our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ.

The second is the call to live as one with one woman and honor her all the days of that God gives on this earth. It is the call to fidelity and responsibility. It is the cause for which God created man as male and female.

He has made us to be counterparts to one another.

We are different enough physically that we can appreciate the differences we have in every other dimension of life. As we study and understand more about the human brain, we see more clearly how we are hard-wired differently. We think and perceive differently. We are fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely made and we are made that way for each other.

I write these words as to men because I am a man. To some extent, women already understand them better than we do. They apply to women as well.

Change some pronouns and examples and read them that way. My concern is that men be men – the way God made us to be, the kind who leave the safety of our fathers’ houses and venture into the unknown as the heads of our own homes, with love, compassion, joy, and integrity.

For this cause, we have been made.

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