Spread the Fire - March 2008 - (Page 18)

elation about what type of relationship could exist between a man and a woman and how this relationship reflected the relationship that exists within the Trinity. I don’t want to draw too sharp a comparison here, because the persons of the Trinity don’t have physical bodies as we do and therefore don’t manifest their love for one another in human ways. But notice in Genesis1:27-28 that it is God’s desire that we reflect the image and likeness of the Trinity. That is why God directs Adam and Eve first to commune with each other as sexual creatures. The Trinity is a community of Lovers who are relationally active, not static. They are, throughout eternity, giving to and receiving from one another in unconditional, loving intimacy. It’s Their very nature to do so. It’s who They are! This community of loving persons is permanent, for They have always exhibited this giving and receiving of love for each other and always will. These are not merely convenient or passing relationships. This community of loving persons is committed, for Their relationship is not dependent on how fulfilled They are or on what They can get out of the relationship. This community of loving persons is exclusive, for there have always been three specific members and there always will be three; no more, no less. They don’t invite other gods into their intimacy nor do they swap partners. They are each for the others. The persons of this community are self-giving; not self-seeking. They seek to serve and to give to one another and glory in doing so. While They glory in receiving love from one another, it’s not about what They can get but what They can give. This community of persons is one, but also distinct and complementary. This means that while the members of the Godhead are one in essence (each is fully God), They are also distinct from one another and complement one another. Each person of the Trinity can’t be fully appreciated apart from the other two. Each needs the others because They are distinct from the others. They complement each other in their uniqueness. To consider the eternal nature of God’s love without desiring to reflect that nature in our sexual relationships is to deny our very identity as human beings. It removes God’s fingerprints from our lives and leaves us with a deep identity crisis. The antidote to such a condition is for God to reconnect who we are with who God is and restore our true sexual identity through this reconciliation process. God did not create me to be a homosexual. I was set up for it through circumstances of life. I had a dysfunctional relationship with my dad, which left me feeling unloved and unwanted. My attempt to connect with others boys at school failed which only compounded my feeling that males rejected me. The name-calling and continued rejection left me with nowhere to belong. I concluded that I must be gay after all because I didn’t fit in anywhere, with either males or females. Years of living with this identity problem produced a fantasy life in which I dreamed of men desiring me. The pull to engage with men sexually followed. The father I desired became the man of my dreams and led me to develop homosexual relationships. When I became a Christian and discovered my identity as a son of God, my feelings of being fatherless began to fade. My identity as my Heavenly Father’s son began to override my dysfunctional identity. When someone asks me how I managed to become free from my sexually dysfunctional past, I have I but one answer: I just fell in love with God who first loved me. The love He revealed for me created a hunger in me to know Him more. As I beheld such love, I became what He created me to be, beholding and then becoming. He told me early in our relationship, “I’m the ‘man’ you’ve been looking for. I will love you and look after you and honor you.” All the things I had been searching for in a man, initially my father and then with others, I found in my relationship with God. He became all the “man” I needed. “ThE LOvE hE REvEALED FOR mE CREATED A hUNGER IN mE TO KNOW hIm mORE“ S TF - 1 8

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Spread the Fire - March 2008

Spread the Fire - March 2008 Contents In the River Save Sex? Simon’s Story The Key To Overcoming Lust It’s Time for the Double Blessing International Itinerary Resource Center Catalogue Upcoming Events Visitor Information

Spread the Fire - March 2008

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