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There’s a deeper truth hidden beneath the chaos.
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24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Walking past the gallery, I saw numerous people standing and staring. I stopped to see what they were looking at. The pictures looked like chaos, they looked random, they didn’t seem like anything that should draw a crowd. It was a gallery filled with ‘Magic Eye’ pictures. Technically, they’re called autostereograms, which allow some people to see 3D images by focusing on 2D patterns. The viewer must un-focus their eyes to see a hidden three-dimensional image within the pattern. ‘Magic Eye’ compelled this group that day. Perhaps, because there’s more going on than meets the eye. There’s a deeper truth hidden beneath the chaos.
In the wedding ceremony in Eden, God says, “They become one flesh.” That word ‘one’ is translated from the Hebrew word ‘echad.’ It’s a graphic, weighty word. When you combine it with the word ‘flesh,’ it basically means “glued together at the deepest levels.” It’s God’s way of saying, when two bodies come together in the act of sex, there’s a fusion of both body and soul that takes place. It’s not just a physical act, it’s an emotion investment, a spiritual deposit, and a physical coming together. There is a oneness that sex creates that cannot be described or understood merely by looking at the physical. There’s more going on than meets the eye.
By God’s good design, sex is about so much more than sex. It’s about two people becoming one. It’s the reason Paul has such strong words about guarding our sexuality. Read what he says to the church in Corinth. “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’” (1 Corinthians 6:16) Paul is not down on sex, he’s fighting for the joy of the church in Corinth. He longs for them to drink deeply of the gift of union and intimacy – a gift they are called to express only in the confines of marriage covenant. He knows the power of sex and he’s calling them to preserve that beauty and power for the only relationship that will feed their joy. He knows there’s more going on than meets the eye.
When Paul makes the statement that marriage is a picture of the church, he invites us to picture the intimacy that takes place in a marriage as illustrative of the intimacy God wants with his church (Ephesians 5:31-32). He wants union. He wants oneness. We’re invited to imagine afresh what intimacy with the Father, Son, and Spirit is meant to be. We’re called to think through what it means to be part of the body of Christ. There’s more going on than meets the eye. Today, take some time and pray for greater intimacy. If you’re married, pray for intimacy that is more than skin deep. Married and unmarried, take some time to pray for greater intimacy with Jesus. Use this prayer of Saint Teresa of Avila as a guide.
A Love Song
Majestic sovereign, timeless wisdom,
your kindness melts my hard, cold soul.
Handsome lover, selfless giver,
your beauty fills my dull, sad eyes.
I am yours, you made me.
I am yours, you called me.
I am yours, you saved me.
I am yours, you loved me.
I will never leave your presence.
Give me death, give me life.
Give me sickness, give me health.
Give me honor, give me shame.
Give me weakness, give me strength.
I will have whatever you give.
Amen
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By Ryan Paulson
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