Two Halves Make a Whole

The wisdom of my grandmother has triumphed again. She said to me, in a conversation about husband/wife relationships, that a man that loved his mother loved the Lord. At the time, it had no real impact on me but now, some 16+ years later, it is clearer than ever before.

In 2010, when my husband, James, and I were in Mississippi, we met a lovely woman whose soul I instantly knitted with. (It was a Jonathan and David moment.) She was the wife of the pastor at the church we were visiting. And, she was being abused. I immediately recognised the signs~watching his every move, not giving eye contact to others, watching her language around him, making sure nothing was done or said that he could use against her later.

Upon introduction, I told her that I knew that there was abuse in her life. When she asked me how I knew, I told her that I recognised myself in her~that two years prior, before I met my current husband, I had been just like her. She started to cry. I continued to tell her that God did not create her to live in fear, and by the time we left four days later, she was looking people in the eye instead of keeping her head down. I am thankful that God gave me the words from my own experience to give her the courage to take the step to be freed from the 'infirmity' that bound her. 

There is an account in Luke (13:10-17) where Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath. The woman's illness is described as 'a spirit of infirmity, was bowed together' and could not lift herself  up. She had been in that condition for eighteen years. This was a woman who did not seek Jesus out~He called her to Him. He released her from the physical bonds laid on her by Satan, because she was a 'daughter of Abraham.'

Her ailment was physical, but how many women have been under other types of male-dominated bondage? Take my friend in Mississippi. She was in bondage to her pastor-husband for more than eighteen years. And, just like the religious leaders in Jesus' time, he thought he had the right to treat her however he wanted because he was her husband. The ruler of the synagogue was indignant with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, saying that if the woman wanted to be healed, she should come on a 'workday.'(v.14) For the religious leaders in the Luke account, and the pastor-husband of my friend, it was about 'rule and authority.' They wanted someone weaker so they could 'lord' over them. But, a woman lifted up in Jesus, and by Jesus, is a daughter of Abraham~free of man's bondage. The hypocrites, as Jesus called them, have no submission in themselves toward God. If they had, they would know that Jesus is the authority under which we ALL submit.

The analogy of family and church is described in Ephesians 5 and 6. Wives, in 5:22, are told to submit 'unto their own husbands, as unto the Lord.' Does that mean women should think of their husbands as 'God'? Absolutely not! It means that if they have  Godly husbands~ones who have an humble, obedient relationship with the Lord~they should trust the leadership in their marital relationship. In v.25, husbands are told to 'love your wives, even as Christ loved the church (His bride) and gave His life for it.' A Godly man would not hurt himself (v.28) and therefore, would not hurt his wife. If a man harms his wife, he is harming himself. (v.29)

But what if the woman's husband is not in submission to God, and tries to lead his wife astray. Is she supposed to to follow him just because he is her husband? No! 1 Corinthians 11:3 spells it out plainly: the head of the man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. If the men in leadership are not following Christ, then the women are not obligated to follow. Each individual Christian woman is married to Christ first and foremost. That is a relationship that must remain intact, for each of us are responsible for our own salvation and our Christian walk.

There was a time when Sarah told Abraham to 'cast out the bondwoman.' (Gen. 21:8-12) but he was reluctant because it meant casting away his son. But, God told him to 'hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall your seed be called.' Sarah was all about promoting the kingdom of God, but if it had been left up to Abraham~the husband~it would not have happened. So, it's the obedience to God that counts, not the gender through which the obedience comes.

So God created man in His own image...male and female created He them. (Gen. 1:27) Both in Genesis (2:24) and in Ephesians (5:31) it is written that the 'two shall become one.' In order for this to be mathematically correct~for 2 to become 1~ then each half has to be equal to one another. It does not work any other way. The men that want to show off their power and authority over women would have the equation read something like 7/8, for the men, and 1/8, for the women. But, in order for 1 to be divided by 2, the answer can only be 1/2. This is a basic mathematical statement that is not only true in the physical world, but also in the spiritual world.

Two halves make a whole.

(1/2 +1/2=1)